WhatsApp for Apple Watch

WhatsApp:

In addition to reading and responding to messages, for the first time WhatsApp on Apple Watch will now support many requested features:

  • Call notifications: You can see who’s calling without needing to look at your iPhone.
  • Full messages: You can read full WhatsApp messages on Apple Watch — even long messages are visible directly from your wrist.
  • Voice messages: You can now record and send voice messages.
  • React to messages: We’ve added the ability to send quick emoji reactions to messages you receive.
  • A great media experience: You’ll see clear images and stickers on your Apple Watch.
  • Chat history: You can see more of your chat history on screen when reading messages.

All of these features have long been available on the Apple Watch apps for Apple’s Messages and Phone apps. But it’s an interesting sign that Meta sees Apple Watch as an important platform for personal communication. Not just for notifications that you need to act upon using your phone, but for actually using on your watch itself. And I think it speaks to how hard Meta is pushing to make WhatsApp the new universal baseline for texting and calling. By keeping iMessage and FaceTime to its own devices, Apple has ceded this opportunity to WhatsApp, and Meta is trying to capitalize on it.

I know there are many people who spend time wearing their Apple Watch while away from their iPhone — often while working out — who want or even feel they need these features. For me though, one of the things I like least about wearing an Apple Watch is getting badgered on my wrist with notifications. I feel not so much like I need less screen time, but rather that I need less notifications time. I feel good when I have time where I’m unreachable by texts, calls, and news alerts. I spent my recent month-plus semi-hiatus wearing only a mechanical watch, and I didn’t miss the lack of notifications-on-my-wrist at all.

★ Wednesday, 5 November 2025