WhatsApp Expands Dual-Account Support on iPhones, Closing a Gap Android Users Have Had for Years

Today’s Focus

Meta is expanding multi-account support inside the main WhatsApp app on iOS, allowing iPhone users to sign in to two separate accounts on the same device without installing the standalone WhatsApp Business app, according to 9to5Mac and Gadgets 360.

The feature surfaces inside the app’s settings, where users can add a second phone number and toggle between accounts. Each account keeps its own chats, notifications, and privacy settings, 9to5Mac reported.

Android users have had access to multi-account support since 2023, when Meta first introduced the option globally. Digital Trends noted that the iOS rollout had been in limited testing for months before this week’s wider release.

A second number is required to register the additional account, and verification works through SMS or a call, according to Gadgets 360. The company has not said when the rollout will be complete or whether it will be tied to a specific WhatsApp version number.

Meta, which owns WhatsApp alongside Facebook and Instagram, has been steadily narrowing feature gaps between its iOS and Android apps. Recent iOS additions include username support, expanded Meta AI integration, and Passkey login.

WhatsApp counts more than 2 billion monthly users globally, according to Meta’s most recent disclosures. The platform dominates messaging in Latin America, India, much of Europe, and parts of Africa, though it has a smaller foothold in the United States, where iMessage and SMS remain entrenched.

The update arrives as regulators in the European Union and United States continue to scrutinize Meta’s market power, particularly around interoperability requirements under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Product reviewers and small-business advocates have welcomed the change as overdue. 9to5Mac described the previous setup, which forced users to install a separate WhatsApp Business app to juggle two numbers, as clunky and storage-heavy on iPhones with limited space.

Digital Trends argued the feature is especially useful for freelancers, gig workers, and anyone managing a personal and work line, calling the prior workaround an annoyance Android users had not had to deal with for years. Absolute Geeks framed the rollout as a basic parity fix that “makes juggling two accounts much less annoying.”

Meta has pitched multi-account as a privacy feature, since users can keep work contacts walled off from personal chats and set distinct notification rules for each. Gadgets 360 noted that each account maintains its own end-to-end encryption keys, meaning conversations in one account are not accessible from the other.

Supporters also point to accessibility: people who travel between countries with separate SIMs, or who use one number for family and another for community organizing, can now do so without buying a second phone.

Critics argue

Privacy advocates and some competing platforms have pushed back on the framing. Critics note that running two accounts on one device still routes all metadata, contact graphs, and behavioral signals through Meta’s servers, concentrating more personal information in a single company.

Digital rights groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation have argued more broadly that WhatsApp’s tight integration with Meta’s advertising and AI products undercuts the privacy benefits of end-to-end encryption, since message content is protected but surrounding metadata is not.

Signal President Meredith Whittaker has repeatedly criticized Meta’s approach to messaging, arguing that adding convenience features deepens user lock-in without addressing what she has called the “surveillance business model” underpinning the parent company.

Competitors and some EU regulators contend that incremental feature updates like multi-account support entrench WhatsApp’s dominance in markets where switching costs are already high, making interoperability rules under the Digital Markets Act harder to enforce in practice.

What the experts say

Independent researchers say the practical impact of dual-account features is real but limited. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that roughly 30% of U.S. smartphone users maintain separate work and personal communication tools, a population that stands to benefit directly from in-app account switching.

Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute have documented WhatsApp’s outsized role in countries such as Brazil, India, and Nigeria, where the app functions as default infrastructure for commerce, news distribution, and political organizing. Reducing friction for multi-account use, they note, is likely to accelerate small-business adoption in those markets.

On privacy, the nonpartisan Center for Democracy and Technology has published analyses noting that end-to-end encryption protects message content but not metadata such as who is talking to whom and when, a distinction that applies equally to single and multi-account setups.

The European Commission, in its 2024 designation of WhatsApp as a “gatekeeper” service under the Digital Markets Act, cited the platform’s 2 billion-plus user base and network effects as evidence that even minor product changes can shift competitive dynamics across the messaging market.

By the Numbers

2 billion: approximate monthly active WhatsApp users worldwide, according to Meta’s most recent public disclosures.

2023: the year multi-account support first launched on Android, per Digital Trends.

2: maximum number of WhatsApp accounts a user can run simultaneously under the new iOS feature, according to 9to5Mac.

30%: share of U.S. smartphone users who report keeping separate personal and work communication channels, per a 2024 Pew Research Center survey.

2024: year the European Commission formally designated WhatsApp a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act, subjecting it to interoperability obligations.

3: number of Meta-owned messaging surfaces (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram DMs) currently being integrated under shared infrastructure, according to company filings.

$0: direct cost of the new feature to users, though a second working phone number is required to register the additional account, per Gadgets 360.