WhatsApp gets iPad app

Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp released an iPad-specific version of its popular messaging app, belatedly offering a larger-format experience to users with Apple Inc. tablets.

The optimised app, available now, allows for a two-column layout and supports iPadOS multitasking features such as Split View.

Like previous versions, it can handle video calls with as many as 32 participants. 

Meta already offers iPad-native apps for Facebook and Facebook Messenger. With the addition of WhatsApp, that leaves Instagram as the major iPad holdout among Meta’s platforms.

That app remains optimised for iPhones, requiring iPad users to either settle for the smaller-format phone version or load the site in a web browser for a full-screen experience.

WhatsApp has more than three billion monthly active users, Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s most recent earnings call last month.

It’s not known what percentage of those users log in to the app from an iPad.