Is WhatsApp supported on iPad?

janjeewa wrote:

All iPads are capable of receiving SMS (regular SMS and iMessage). Therefore, this is not a valid reason for iPads not to have WhatsApp. On the contrary, Macs have WhatsApp - fully functional even with calling / video calling capability!!

No, iPads are only capable of receiving messages transferred from an iPhone. They are not capable of receiving actual SMS messages. Regardless, WhatsApp is still not supported on the iPad.

salisu258 wrote:

I can’t enable to download a WhatsApp from my iPad device and chrome Facebook I need your kindly assistance thank you

This is an Apple forum. No one here can help you. ONLY Meta can help you, because they own What’s App

WhatsApp is not currently supported on iPad. But Google search “WhatsApp for iPad (2023)” for additional information.

And I've been able to function satisfactorily without Whatsapp, Chrome, Google, and Android for all these years! Amazing.

Andrew Denny2 wrote:

Does iphone support whatsapp?

Yes.

Me too. I just bought new iPad (to go with multiple iPhones, iMacs, MPB in our team). Can no longer function on iPad if WhatsApp not available.

[Edited by Moderator]

But WhatsApp is available for my MS Laptop. It has no SMS facility, so why is that different to my iPad?

I hope the Apple developers would actually look into adding WhatsApp for iPad especially sometimes when you forget to bring your phone along with you like on a vacation

Well I think Apple and Meta could easily sort it out, it’s childish and I’ll blame the brat at Meta…

Given that there are numerous aftermarket Apps for Ipad which work, but have annoying adverts, all the talk about iPad not supporting sms (which it does, as people send me text messages to my phone number, which I receive via iMessage on my wifi only iPad air3), seems both wrong, and irrelevant.

I am reluctantly forced to use one of these 3rd party Apps, as some tourist booking companies are using WhatsApp to confirm bookings, even when emailed, and advising on their website that they will send written confirmation by email. (****** annoying, as printing out a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation is not a great way to prove your identity and a booking on the roadside pickup point to a tour operator.)

In conclusion, there is no answer. Reading all the responses here, soon you realize that one contradicts the other, and that one answer blames Apple for not allowing WhatsApp on iPads, and the next blames WhatsApp for not having an app for iPads, one answer tells you it is possible, the next tells you is not.

Read the faq at Whatsapp support site carefully:

"We don’t support setting up new accounts on WiFi ONLY devices."

It said WiFi only iPadOS devices but not cellular version (WiFi+GSM) of iPad with SIM card slot (there are two versions of iPad all along).

Thus with cellular iPad you still able to receive standard SMS message even from non-Apple devices. The only thing you can't do is to make phone call even with cellular iPad.

Anyway as other posters have pointed out, SMS messaging capability is not required for What's App as communication can always be routed through Internet networking just like in iMessage app on iPad.

Many early developers do not want to take trouble to unify user interface design in XCode development environment between iPhone and iPad (the base code can remain the same). Interface builder module in XCode (later versions but not earlier ones) takes care of differences between iPhone and iPad pretty well thus extra effort is not much. I am surprise that even Meta such big company does not want to do it (not profitable or incompetent ?).

when sitting on desk, i need WhatsApp App in iPad with iPhone (same Apple account) for not only more chats on screen and ergonomics of iPad. iPad improved my posture issue of a smartphone; less shoulder discomfort due to less shoulder shrugging; less wrist problem due to less scrolling; less eye strain from new iPad compared to 5 years old iPhone. How to justify buying latest biggest display iPhone when I need to address posture problems?

I like your comment “We don’t support setting up new accounts on WiFi only devices” but in reality it should be “We don’t support setting up new accounts on WiFi only and cellular tablets.” I wish I am wrong