Meta last year confirmed its plans to finally release an iPad-specific version of WhatsApp right after launching a macOS app rebuilt from scratch. A beta version of the iPad app was released in late September, but a year later, WhatsApp for iPad is still a beta app.
Meta doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to iPad apps. Among Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, only the first one has an iPadOS app – but it’s been years since the app last received significant updates. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri last year suggested that the iPad isn’t a priority for the company.
At the same time, the WhatsApp team seemed to be a bit more committed to Apple platforms. The Electron version of the Desktop app has been discontinued in favor of a new app built specifically for the Mac, which runs better especially on Apple Silicon machines.
To give us more hope, WhatsApp launched a beta version of an iPad app, which was much requested by WhatsApp users. While you can run the iPhone versions of Instagram and Threads on iPadOS, it’s simply impossible to install WhatsApp on the iPad. Similar to the Mac app, users can link their WhatsApp account on the iPad to access all their conversations.
Unfortunately, a year has passed and there are still no signs that WhatsApp plans to launch the iPad version on the App Store any time soon. 9to5Mac has gained access to the beta version of WhatsApp for iPadOS, and although it has the same features as the iPhone app, the iPad version is still quite buggy and often suffers from crashes.
It’s unclear at this point whether Meta is having a hard time fixing these bugs or whether the project to release the iPad version has been put on hold. But given that the company doesn’t seem to care about the iPad, the second scenario wouldn’t come as a surprise.
Do you miss having Meta apps on your iPad? Let us know in the comments section below.
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