Every tailor, tutor and Facebook shop in Bangladesh has the same setup: one phone for the family number, a second, older phone for the business WhatsApp, both charging on the counter. Meta is about to make the second phone unnecessary. Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook that WhatsApp for Android will support two accounts on one phone, with switching between them from a menu — no logging out, no “clone app”, no second handset. It rolls out to all Android users over the next few weeks.
How it works
- Update WhatsApp. In Settings, tap the arrow beside your name; a new option, Add account, appears.
- The second account needs a second phone number. Either the second SIM in a dual-SIM phone — you verify by SMS as usual — or an account already running on another phone, which you link by scanning a QR code from that phone.
- Once added, a popup in the profile menu lists both accounts. Tap to switch. Each account keeps its own notifications, chats, privacy settings and profile picture.
One SIM cannot hold two accounts — the number is the account — and the SIM for the second number must stay in the phone (or the account must remain registered on the other device) for it to keep working.
The two limits
Two is the maximum: a third number still needs another phone or WhatsApp Business alongside. And this is Android only for now; Apple’s app sandboxing makes the same feature harder on iPhone and Meta has not given a date.
Why Bangladesh has been waiting
Three reasons. Dual-SIM phones are the norm here, not the exception, and most people already carry two numbers — one operator for calls, another for cheap data — so the second account costs nothing. Small businesses run on personal WhatsApp accounts rather than WhatsApp Business, because the customer base was built on a personal number years ago, and separating work from family has meant a second device. And the workaround until now — “Dual Messenger” on Samsung phones, “App Cloner” on others, or the modified GB WhatsApp that half the country has installed — ranges from unofficial to dangerous: WhatsApp bans accounts using modified apps, and the modified apps carry malware. An official second account removes the main reason people installed them.
What to do
If you are on GB WhatsApp or another clone for the second number, this is the moment to move: back up the clone’s chats, uninstall it, add the number as a second account in the official app, and the ban risk goes away. If you carry a second phone only for WhatsApp, it can go in the drawer.
What this does not replace
Two points worth knowing before you retire the second phone, because the feature solves one problem and leaves two in place.
It is not WhatsApp Business. The separate Business app gives you a catalogue, away messages, quick replies and labels on chats — none of which arrive with account switching. A seller who wants those still wants the Business app, which can itself hold the second number.
And backups stay per account. Each number keeps its own chat backup to Google Drive, which is right but easy to misread: restoring the phone restores whichever account you are signed into at the time, and the other one needs doing separately. Before you move numbers onto one handset, check that both have a recent backup — the single phone is now a single point of failure for both.
Source: The Verge, via Prothom Alo.
