After years of user requests, the world’s largest messaging app is finally arriving on the world’s most popular wearable.
On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced a dedicated Apple Watch app, expanding its presence across the Apple ecosystem. The new app lets users handle key messaging features directly from their wrist—no iPhone required.
With the Watch app, users can view incoming call notifications and read full message threads right on the compact screen. Images and stickers are supported too, along with access to recent chat history. The app even allows quick responses by recording and sending voice messages straight from the watch.
As expected, all communications remain protected with end-to-end encryption, maintaining WhatsApp’s long-standing privacy standard. The app requires an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer running watchOS 10 or later.
A Decade in the Making
The launch comes surprisingly late for a company of Meta’s scale. WhatsApp’s first iPhone app debuted in August 2009, while the original Apple Watch arrived in 2015. Yet it has taken until 2025 for the messaging giant to make its way to the smartwatch.
Meta’s slow rollout across Apple platforms has long drawn criticism. WhatsApp for iPad only arrived in May 2025—and even then, it functioned as a companion app that still relies on a connected phone. Instagram, another Meta service, finally launched an iPad version in September 2025—fifteen years and nearly 400 iOS updates after its debut.
Given that timeline, perhaps it’s no surprise the Apple Watch was made to wait. At this pace, a WhatsApp app for visionOS might not appear until 2041.
