WhatsApp Business can now run two accounts at once: Here’s how

Businesses juggling two phone numbers on WhatsApp no longer need a spare device to do it. WhatsApp Business beta for Android version 2.24.27.5 is rolling out multi-account support.

Users can add and switch between two separate business profiles inside the same app.

How the WhatsApp Business multi-account feature works?

In order to enable this feature, the user needs to go to the Settings option. The presence of a "+" sign near the account will indicate that the user can have more than one account on WhatsApp. On tapping on it, it takes the user to a familiar registration process wherein the user adds another number to his WhatsApp account.

According to WABetaInfo, two profiles exist within one installation of the application. This means that no cloning software or parallel application is required. Users can switch from one account to another using the overflow menu on the Chats tab. However, the maximum number of accounts is two.

Before this update, a business running two numbers had two options: keep a second phone on hand, or install WhatsApp Business as a workaround even without a real business use for it. Neither solution scaled well for companies split across departments or managing multiple brands under separate numbers.

Notifications on the idle account still come through, but reading them requires switching profiles first. That's a limitation businesses managing high message volume across both numbers will want to factor in.

WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business both run on the same messaging kernel, but additional features were added first to Messenger and only later to the Business variant.

This particular update is now available only to some beta testers who upgraded their apps from the Google Play Store, but more beta testing will take place soon.