WhatsApp Multi-Account Support Is Finally Coming to Your iPhone

For years, WhatsApp has felt strangely out of step with the way people actually use their phones. Dual-SIM smartphones have been common since long before the iPhone XS arrived in 2018, and in many regions carrying two numbers is normal. Yet one basic feature was still missing: the ability to run multiple WhatsApp accounts on the same device without hacks, workarounds, or a second phone.

That finally looks set to change.

In the latest TestFlight beta for iOS, WhatsApp is experimenting with native multi-account support. The change, first spotted by WABetaInfo, allows a small group of beta testers to sign in with more than one profile inside the main app on an iPhone. It is limited for now, but it hints at a major shift in how WhatsApp thinks about identity, privacy, and productivity.

How multiple WhatsApp accounts on one iPhone will work

According to the early beta, a new section called Account List appears in the settings menu. From there, users can add a second account, either by creating a fresh one or by signing in with an existing profile that might previously have lived on another device or inside WhatsApp Business. At the moment, the beta supports two accounts, which is enough for the most common scenario: one personal number and one work number on the same phone.

Each account behaves like a separate instance of WhatsApp. Chats, media history, cloud backups, notification preferences, and privacy settings stay isolated, so muting an aggressive work group will not silence family chats, and changing your profile photo for a business account will not suddenly show it to your friends. In practice, it recreates the feeling of having two apps installed side by side, but with a cleaner, official implementation.

Switching identities has also been built into the navigation. You can hop between accounts from the Account List section in Settings, double-tap the Settings tab to jump to the next active account, or press and hold the Settings tab to open a quick picker. It is a small detail, but one that makes swapping profiles as quick as switching mailboxes in an email client.

Notifications are being adjusted to match this new flexibility. When more than one account is active, incoming alerts no longer show only the sender; they also indicate which account is receiving the message. That means fewer awkward mistakes, like replying to a client from your personal profile or missing an important business chat because it was buried among family memes.

Why this update is so overdue

Dual-SIM support has been the norm across the Android world for years, and Apple’s eSIM-driven iPhones have made juggling multiple numbers even easier. Many people keep one line for work, one for private life, and sometimes a travel or data-only number on top. WhatsApp, however, has long stuck to a rigid rule: one phone number, one account, one active instance per device.

That rigidity pushed users toward clumsy solutions. The most popular trick has been to install WhatsApp Business as a kind of unofficial second client, using it for personal chats even though it was designed for companies. Some Android manufacturers add their own app cloning features so you can duplicate WhatsApp, while others fall back to carrying a second handset purely for messaging. None of these options feels elegant, and all of them exist only because the core app refused to support more than one profile.

The underlying technical reason is that WhatsApp accounts are tied directly to an active phone number. Multiple numbers meant multiple accounts that simply were not allowed to coexist in the standard iOS app. Multi-account support finally acknowledges reality: most people are not trying to game the system; they just want to keep different parts of their lives separate without turning their pockets into a hardware museum.

Usernames and a step toward more flexible identities

In parallel with multi-account access, WhatsApp is also testing username support, something Telegram and Signal users have taken for granted for years. A username allows someone to reach you without ever seeing your actual phone number, which is a huge win for privacy, online communities, and creators who interact with large audiences.

If usernames roll out globally, they could gradually loosen the strict one-number-one-identity model on which WhatsApp was built. Combined with the new account switcher, that opens the door to richer setups: a private profile for friends, a public persona for followers, and a dedicated work account, all coexisting neatly inside one app, each with its own visibility rules and contact list.

WhatsApp is finally picking up the pace

For a long time, WhatsApp’s feature list seemed frozen in time. Many users, myself included, stuck with it not because it felt innovative but because almost everyone we know is there. Lately, though, Meta appears to be paying closer attention to the app’s shortcomings and long-standing requests.

An official Apple Watch app now makes it easier to glance at messages without pulling out your iPhone. In-app translation helps when you chat across languages. Smaller updates to groups, calls, media sharing, and privacy controls suggest a renewed focus on polish. Native multi-account support fits perfectly into this pattern: it is not flashy, but it solves a very real, very old problem.

What this means for everyday users

For freelancers, consultants, and small-business owners, running two WhatsApp accounts on one iPhone is more than a convenience feature; it is a genuine productivity upgrade. You can silence personal chats during working hours while staying reachable for clients, then reverse that balance once you clock off. Sensitive business conversations no longer sit next to weekend party planning in the same notification feed.

Travelers, expats, and remote workers will feel the difference too. Keeping a local SIM for cheap data and a home country number for banking and verification codes is increasingly common. With multi-account support, both identities can finally live in a single WhatsApp installation instead of forcing you to repeatedly sign out, switch numbers, and hope the app does not lock you out.

The feature is still in beta, and WhatsApp may tweak the interface, limits, or rollout plan before it reaches everyone. But taken together with usernames and the recent wave of thoughtful improvements, it paints a clear picture of where the platform is heading. After years of standing still, WhatsApp is slowly transforming from a rigid, number-locked messenger into a more flexible communication hub that actually reflects how people live and work today.