WhatsApp will soon let businesses rename their devices for free

Whatsapp Message Hero (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz / iMore)

What you need to know

WhatsApp Business users look set to be able to change the name of attached devices soon.
The new feature is available to beta testers starting today.
It was expected that the feature would be part of the WhatsApp Premium subscription but that doesn't seem to be the case.

WhatsApp is testing a change to its WhatsApp Business service that will allow companies to change the name of the devices that are linked to their accounts — and the feature will be free for all.

The ability to rename devices was initially thought to be part of the upcoming WhatsApp Premium business subscription offering, but WABetaInfo now reports that the feature is going live for all beta testers now.

As you can see in this screenshot, we are now able to rename linked devices: this is possible immediately after linking a new device to our WhatsApp account, or you can also rename it later by opening WhatsApp Settings > Linked Devices > Device > Name. The ability to assign a custom name to our linked devices is another business tool to help businesses understand who the device belongs to, and it is not available to standard WhatsApp accounts.

Whatsapp Business Device Renaming screenshots (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

There is still no telling when we can expect this feature to be made available to all WhatsApp business users, but the ability to rename devices could be an important one for all.

WhatsApp is already one of the best iPhone tools for businesses that want to be able to offer customer support via an app and environment that they are already familiar with and comfortable using. Changing the name of a device might not seem a huge deal on the face of it, but it's another addition that will be seen as a notable quality of life improvement by those who need it.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.