WhatsApp on Apple Watch is Finally Here—But These 6 Missing Features Made Me Uninstall It
Meta’s official, native WhatsApp app for Apple Watch is finally here, and it is a massive step up from mirrored notifications. The arrival of this key communications piece should, in theory, get us closer to relying more on our Watches than ever before. Except, it’s not that simple. I spent two days testing the new native app and found several core features missing, making it impractical for my regular communication style. Here’s a breakdown of the good, the bad and the very frustrating.
What is New (The Good News)
The app needs Apple Watch Series 4 or newer and watchOS 10, as a minimum, so my Watch Ultra 3 with watchOS 26 had all the tech bases covered.
- Long messages are displayed, easily scrolled and read
- Send quick emoji reactions
- Record and send voice messages from the wrist
- View clear images and stickers
- Receive proper incoming call notifications with the caller’s name
- Access more of the recent chat history
The 6 Essential Missing Features (The Bad News)
Despite the improvements, the app remains tethered to the iPhone and lacks key functionality, severely limiting its utility, particularly for those on the go.
- Cannot Answer Voice/Audio Calls: While you receive a notification, the only option on the watch face is to decline the call. To answer, you must still pull out your iPhone.
- No New Chat Initiation: The app is limited to continuing existing conversations. There is no UI to scroll through contacts or start a brand new message thread from your wrist.
- No Watch Face Complications: There is no support for Complications, meaning you cannot launch the app directly from a shortcut on your watch face—you must open the app drawer. (There are complications with Google’s Wear OS version!)
- No Standalone Cellular Function: Like other companion apps, it requires the connected iPhone to be on and connected to a network. WhatsApp is non-functional if you leave your phone at home and rely on your cellular-enabled Apple Watch.
- No Siri Dictation Support: While the native Dictation function works, you cannot use the “Hey Siri” command to initiate or dictate a WhatsApp message as you can with Apple’s built-in Messages app.
- Limited Chat History: Conversations are limited to the last 20, preventing easy access to older threads or less frequent contacts.
The Very Frustrating – Some Tips
- The watch app might not be automatically installed. It appeared in the iOS Watch app as ready-to-install, but that didn’t work. I had to install it from the App Store on the Watch.
- The Watch app does not always load the conversations. A nice Liquid Glass visualisation shows…and shows…and shows. Unlocking your iPhone should fix that.
Take Out
The Watch version of WhatsApp is a very useful first step by Meta. They had to start somewhere, and this is it. I’ve become accustomed to fully functioning iPhone features and cannot use this Watch version until how I usually interact with the iPhone app is more closely replicated. If, instead, you were waiting for more straightforward message exchanges, you will be happy with what you have today.
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