Is this the most-requested Apple Watch app update ever?

Stuff / News / Is this the most-requested Apple Watch app update ever?

WhatsApp has completely revamped its Apple Watch app – and you’ll now be able to properly read and respond to full messages with full chat suppprt. Before you could only really see basic notifications and send rudimentary responses.

The Apple Watch app will also show you call notifications, while you can record and send voice notes as well. The hardware requirements are very accommodating, requiring Apple Watch Series 4 or later, running watchOS 10 or later which is better than Apple’s own support – Series 6 is the oldest Apple Watch still officially supported by Apple.

Here’s a full list of what’s in the new WhatsApp for Apple Watch:

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.

Meta says this “is just the start of making WhatsApp on your Apple Watch an even better experience… We look forward to delivering even more useful functionality for people with Apple Watch in the future.” So expect more features to debut.

The upgrade of WhatsApp on Apple Watch is the latest in a handful of long-awaited 2025 launches from Meta on Apple devices, including the long-awaited iPad apps for WhatsApp and Instagram.

These moves almost certainly point to some greater cooperation between the two companies after a falling out over the loss in revenue from Facebook after Apple introduced a way for users to opt-out from ad tracking in iOS 14.5 and later during early 2021.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.