WASHINGTON: WhatsApp PC version has been revealed some week ago. Now WhatsApp Tablet version has also been in the market and one can install it while keeping the following suggestions into consideration.
In order to install WhatsApp on your tablet, you must have a phone number with you. If you make use of your current WhatsApp number, your account will be migrated to your tablet and you won’t be able to access it from your phone anymore. It is for this reason a new SIM card is mandatory for this to work. This is by far the cheapest and easiest way you can use to get a new WhatsApp account on your tablet.
After you buy a new SIM card, insert it in your device and copy all your contacts to it. You can always revert to using your old SIM card once you are done with this process.
Unlike other players in the instant messaging industry who have versions for mobile phones, tablets, as well as PCs, for instance, Viber and Skype, WhatsApp is only available to users via a phone. Just recently, WhatsApp Web for PC was introduced which offers users with very limited functions as far as WhatsApp is concerned.
In essence, what WhatsApp Web does is mirror the phone app onto your PC such that you can have the messages on a larger window than your phone. Other than this, there is nothing much you get from this web client.
Despite the fact that WhatsApp has no dedicated version for tablets, it does not mean that it is impossible to install and use WhatsApp on a tablet. There are ways you can use to get around this problem and some of them are very complex to go around, for instance, rooting your tablet. However, this piece of writing details out the simplest method so far that you can use to get WhatsApp on your tablet.
What you need to know before installing WhatsApp on your tablet
The one thing you must know is that once you have installed WhatsApp on your tablet, it will create a unique account for your device. However, it is still possible to continue with using your old WhatsApp account on your tablet. All these will be detailed out in this article. Just keep reading.
How to install WhatsApp on a tablet
Visit the official WhatsApp website and download the APK file of the application to your PC or tablet. You can use any web browser, be it Chrome or Firefox, and once the download is complete, save the file on your tablet. If you used a PC to download the WhatsApp APK file, you can go ahead and connect your tablet to the PC using a USB cable and copy the file to your tablet.
Make sure you have enabled the installation of applications that come from outside the Google Play Store to your device by going to “Settings>Security>Unknown sources”. You can revert to the normal settings when this is done, if you can’t be sure of monitoring the apps that you download and install onto your device. Go ahead and install the APK file on your tablet.
WhatsApp will take the usual installation and registration process and when asked for the phone number, provide the new number and you will receive a message with a confirmation code you use to carry on the authentication of the account. Continue with setting up WhatsApp as usual and it will scan your phone numbers and create a new list of contacts. That’s it; you now have WhatsApp on your tablet.
Bottom line
As earlier noted, this method will create a new account on your tablet and as such, you’ll need to provide your friends with your new number so that they can communicate with you, using your new account on your tablet.
In case you are after transferring your number from your phone to your tablet, use the same number as that on your phone rather than buy a new SIM card. The verification process will be the same but in the end, your account will no longer be on your phone and instead, it will be on your tablet.
