How to make a second WhatsApp account on one phone

You can run two WhatsApp accounts on one phone, and you do not need two phones or a rooted device to do it. Recent versions of WhatsApp let you add a second account inside the app itself; failing that, WhatsApp Business is a separate app that runs alongside the normal one. Either way each account needs its own phone number, and the second number is the part most people are stuck on.

Three ways, in the order worth trying

1. The built-in account switcherSettings, tap the arrow beside your name, Add account. If your version has it, this is the cleanest option - one app, two accounts, notifications for both.
2. WhatsApp Business alongside WhatsAppA separate free app from the same company. Install it, register the second number, and both apps sit on the home screen together. It also gives you away messages and a catalogue, which are useful if the second account is for work.
3. Your phone's dual-app featureSamsung calls it Dual Messenger, Xiaomi calls it Dual Apps, others call it App Twin. It clones the app. It works, but it breaks more often after updates than the two options above.

Where the second number comes from

It has to be a number that can receive one SMS. A second SIM works if you have one and intend to keep it. If you do not want to buy and top up a SIM for the sake of one code, renting a virtual number for the registration is the usual alternative.

Whichever you use, set a two-step verification PIN on the second account straight away. WhatsApp can ask any account to re-verify later, and an account whose number you no longer control and which has no PIN cannot be recovered by anyone.

Keeping them apart

• Give the business account a different profile photo. Two identical green icons on one home screen is how people reply to the wrong person.
• Back up separately. The two accounts do not share chat history.
• If one is for work, put its hours in the away message rather than answering at midnight.

If there is no Add account option

• Update WhatsApp. The built-in switcher arrived in a 2023 update, and older builds simply do not have it.
• Check you are looking in the right place: Settings, then the small arrow beside your own name at the top, not inside Account.
• On a phone with little storage left the update may have been abandoned silently. Free a few hundred megabytes and try the store again.
• If it still is not there, install WhatsApp Business instead. Same company, free, and it does not depend on your version at all.
• Do not install a modified WhatsApp from outside the official store to get the feature. Those builds are the commonest cause of a permanent ban, and they can read your messages.

Common questions