WhatsApp finally works on the Apple Watch

Samuel Buchmann

5/11/2025

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Samuel Buchmann

After more than ten years, Meta is releasing a native version of WhatsApp for the watch from Cupertino. This makes detours via third-party providers superfluous.

WhatsApp has rolled out a standalone app for the Apple Watch. You can use it to read and compose full messages, record voice messages and view calls. The app requires an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer with watchOS 10. According to Meta, end-to-end encryption is also retained on the watch.

Until now, the Apple Watch only displayed notifications from WhatsApp. To read more than the preview or reply, you had to use third-party apps such as WatchChat. These don't always work reliably because they have to reconnect every time.

What the app can do

The native app from Meta therefore closes a long-standing gap. It is based on the existing Wear OS version for Android watches. Meta describes the launch as «first chapter» and announces further functions. The full list of features in the first version:

• Call notifications: You can see on your watch when someone calls you via WhatsApp. But you need your iPhone to make the call.
• Full messages: You can read WhatsApp messages in full. They open with a tap on the notification or from the app.
• Write messages: You can compose messages directly on the watch using dictation, doodling or the normal keyboard. However, you cannot start new chats, only continue those from the last month.
• Voice messages: You can also listen to, record and send voice messages with the Apple Watch. Knight Rider sends his regards. However, the maximum length of the recorded messages is only ten seconds.
• Reactions: With a long press on a message, reactions such as a Like can be sent.
• High-resolution images: Images are displayed sharply - even in the notifications, where previously only pixelated versions were visible.

The launch of the app comes more than ten years after the introduction of the Apple Watch (2015). To use it, you need to download the latest version of WhatsApp on your iPhone. You will then also be offered the version for the watch for installation in the watch app. The social media giant only released a native app for iPadOS in May 2025.

Samuel Buchmann

Senior Editor

Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.

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