How To: Install the WhatsApp Messenger onto Your Nexus 7 and Sync It with Your Phone Number

Install the WhatsApp Messenger onto Your Nexus 7 and Sync It with Your Phone Number

WhatsApp is a very popular messaging app on the Play Store, but unfortunately, tablet users have been left out of all the fun because WhatsApp only works on smartphones—until now.

Tech wiz James Nakata wrote up a short guide over in our forum for porting WhatsApp onto a Nexus 7, and I'm going to elaborate on that here.

This guide will show you how to get WhatsApp working on a Nexus 7, but it should work for all Android tablets.

You'll need both a rooted Android phone and a rooted Nexus 7 (or any rooted Android tablet) for this hack.

On Your Rooted Phone...

The following 4 steps will outline the process you need to perform on your rooted Android phone.

Step 1: Set Up WhatsApp on Your Rooted Android Phone

Install WhatsApp Messenger on to your Android phone from the Play Store. Go though the setup process and have your account activated. Send a few messages with WhatsApp to verify that your phone sends and receives messages.

Step 2: Install Titanium Backup on Your Rooted Android Phone

Open up the Play Store, and search for the free version of Titanium Backup.

Reminder: you need to be rooted!

Step 3: Back Up WhatsApp Using Titanium Backup

Open up the Titanium Backup app. A message will popup asking for "root permissions". Go and click "Grant". This just allows Titanium Backup to run on your phone.

Click the middle option for "Backup/Restore", then scroll down the list of apps until you see WhatsApp.

Click on WhatsApp, and choose "Backup!".

WhatsApp will then be backed up on your phone.

Step 4: Send the WhatsApp Backup as an Attachment

Since the Nexus 7 doesn't have an SD card slot, you will have to upload the backup to Gmail. Open up the Play Store, and search for the free version of Astro File Manager. Install and open it on your phone.

Go and find the folder titled "TitaniumBackup". Click and hold down on the folder; an option will slide up for "Zip"—click on it. This will save the folder as one file ready to be uploaded to Google Drive.

Once that's done, find the Titanium Backup ZIP file in Astro and long press it. Choose the option for "Share".

A new popup will appear; find the icon for Gmail and email it to yourself as an attachment.

One Your Rooted Nexus 7...

Now, the easy part... Getting WhatsApp onto your Nexus 7!

Step 5: Go Back on Your Nexus 7

Install Titanium Backup from the Play Store on your Nexus 7 like you did on your phone, but just don't open it yet. You'll be using it to restore WhatsApp, which was backed up.

Download the attachment you sent to your Gmail on your Nexus 7.

Install and open up Astro on your Nexus 7 and unzip the ZIP file. It will be located in the folder labeled "Download". Using Astro, click on the folder TitaniumBackup and move it to the tab directory "/storage/sdcard0".

Now you can open up Titanium Backup and go back to "Backup/Restore". Scroll down once again and find WhatsApp. Click on WhatsApp and choose the "Restore" option. Titanium Backup will start restoring WhatsApp to your tablet, and then it will be installed and working just fine.

Image via tapatalk.com

Let us know if it worked for you.

Enjoy!

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38 Comments

Why so complecated? I have WhatsApp on my N7 and it's not rooted.

You just need a SW for SMS like Go SMS pro and then go to the whatsapp homepage in the 'computer mode' and download the app and install it.

Thanks for the good question!

Not sure what you mean by "computer mode", but the tutorial shows you how to register your phone number onto your N7 to use with WhatsApp. The key is to have both your phone number and WhatsApp on your N7 paired together, instead of just being able to install WhatsApp.

hey if u still there.... i try too download the email attachement and i get an error saying i cant open or save this type of file

no need
install wa apk
then it will ask ur phone number
then u will get a verification code
then begins ur wa chat

Dude can u pls show it step by step... I would appreciate it

What i did is:
Install Go SMS Pro (cant validate phone#)
Go to whatsapp.com (chrome)
Click the download button (install it)
Open whatsapp and it says: Tablets are not supported

Is there smth im missing?
And what do u mean with 'computer mode'?

Thnx in advance

how did you do it ??

i downloaded whatsapp from the main site and when i install it it say "tablets is not supported "

can you explain what to do ?? because i dont want to root my nexus 7

regards :)

I did as you said and it worked for my nexus 7 3G (rooted). Thanks.

Installed the "go SMS pro"
Downloaded what's app apk file from what's app's website
Installed the apk file and it worked.

I have iPhone caan I use my whatsapp on my nexus 7?

This is too mich, actually I got whatsapp on mh Nexus 7 3G version since the date I first got it.
How did I got it? It's too simple.

  1. Enable Unknown Source in the Security Settings
  2. Use your Chrome (but I recommend Firefox) to navigate to http://www.whatsapp.com and download whatsapp directly from the web.
  3. Install download file by tapping the completed downloaded whatsapp apk on the Notification center.
  4. Done

To set up whatsapp just follow the screen instruction, and use your free-whatsapp-registration phone number to register what app and get the register code from an SMS on the phone.

P.S. I dont know unrooted Nexus would be done easily like this or not, my Nexus has rooted and unlocked.

Hi
Check after I follow I can install it but cant run them. It said tablets are currently not supported.

Will the above showed procedure works also for only WiFi units?

Yeah it worked for me on my WiFi only 32GB Nexus 7, but unfortunately I can't use it with the same number as my phone's

Hey Danny, thanks for the tutorial!

What I would like to know: is it possible to use WA on the phone and Nexus at the same time?

Hey everyone.

There are other methods to get WhatsApp on your tablet, but this method is the most dependable. This applies to the wi-fi only version of the Nexus 7 and other wi-fi tablets, so YMMV on the 3G model.

Ruben, This should make both your tablet and your phone receive the same messages as both apps will then share the same registration data.

Hi Danny,

I'm not sure that would be the case because I followed Kumar's direction (below) since I didn't want to go the rooted route and although it worked in getting WA to work flawlessly on my Nexus, I shortly therafter got a pop up on my Galaxy S2 saying the connection to WA servers were closed - and that it can only be installed on one device per registered number.

So my guess is this is one way they're trying to limit useage, by limiting the allowed installed instances per registered number.

Might need to get a separate number in order to use it on more than one device I'm afraid. But if anyone knows of a way to workaround this little issue and sync message between two or more devices at a time, then I'm sure we all would appreciate the input! I certainly would! :)

Hi, does my nexus to be rooted? Loks like titanium it's not working

Actually its very easy. I hvhave installed it today on my Nexus .
Install Go SMS pro on N7.
Download and install Firefox on yr N7.
Enable the N7 to run program outside of Google play.

Visit whatsapp website on firefox and run firefox on desktop mode by selecting the option 'Request desktop site' available on upper right hand corner of the Firefox browser.

The file will be downloaded and installed
Enjoy whatsapp

Thanx a million bucks Kumar! Your instructions worked perfectly!

I now can use What'sApp on my wifi only 32Gb N7 at work, with my phone in my pocket, so chatting to my gf while "appearing" to actually be working is now possible... :)

Only downside to this is that I had to uninstall What'sApp from my phone, since it can only be installed on one device per number. Might need to get a seperate numbe if I want to use it simultaneously on both devices, but then, what would the point to that be exactly? :)

Thanx again!

KKumar, i did the same thing and it canceled the app from the phone.
Again, does the tablet needs to be rooted? Otherwise titanium bac-up will not run?
Pleas help

Sorry, but this seems not to work. After doing everything, when you open Whatsapp, after clicking on 'agree and continue', the app says 'tablets are currently not supported'.

Oops... I had used 'restore app' instead of 'app+data'... My bad!

No rooting required. I hope you are working on 3g model. Please understand that you have to download the apk file on your nexus.

Befor you do this make sure that the Nexus is enabled to install software from sources other than Google play.

The problem is in downloading. It has to be downloaded in desktop mode. If u can't download using your nexus, download it on yr PC/notebook and save the file on Google drive. You can then easily download it to your nexus and run the sowtware.

I've transfered the back-upped zip to my Nexus, unzipped it and restored it using Titanium.

The app is now installed on my tablet.

But after sending 1 message it wants to verify again and says it can only be installed on 1 device.

Can this be fixed?

I did some digging into this problem and It seems the latest version of WhatsApp now checks to see how many devices a number is registered to.

Hi, my S2 is not able to detect my sim now and I reformatted the phone. Do you think this method will work for me on my s2?

On a Nexus7 with 3G:

Install a Go SMS to be able to receive sms on phone.

Install and Run Firefox. At Firefox options set: Desktop mode required.
Go to whatsapp.com and follow links to download.

Install whatsapp and enjoy.

This was covered in a separate article.

Hi all,

I am facing problem with Whatsup on my new Galaxy Note 2. After installation , when whatsup run "Verify your phone number" step and throws "Unable to connect. please check that you are connected to the internet and try again" error. I already verified and made confirm about my 3G network is up and running and so phone number.

Please do the needful !

Try reinstalling the app on your phone.

@Federico can you please explain what do you mean by restored app and app+data coz I really need to install it and then when I finally installed it I am facing the same problem as you so please help me , a little help will be appreciated (:

works but I cant use the same number

any way thanks bro

Thanks Danny! Instructions went perfectly. It works aptly on my nexus 7 with same no.

Dear Kumar, Thanks a lot for this post. It has worked on my N7 4G.
You are so wonderful
Thanks

Hi everyone..

I have bought a Vodafone 3G sim for my N7, which was working absolutely fine over wifi. However, only the Facebook Msg App n Whatsapp is not entirely working over 3G : incoming works, but i cant send mgs. Can anyone help please?

Regards.

Hi,

I have followed the guide step-by-step and whatsapp worked on my Nexus7 BUT when I turned up Whatsapp on my iPhone I had to re-activate it and of course it stopped working on the Nexus7...

Is there any way to make it work on both devices?
Or I made something wrong?

im usng wa frm my n7 wifi
bt i didnt go through this processes
download "go sms pro" frm play store (free app)
then visit http://www.whatsapp.com/android/
n download it frm there
simple :) :)

Excellent post... Working like a charm in my Nexus7.

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