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I have two phone numbers for two purposes and I would like to run two native WhatsApp clients in parallel on my Mac.

I don't want to use the browser (or two browser windows) since I prefer the native Mac OS apps.

How can I do that?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Simply open terminal and run this command:

/Applications/WhatsApp.app/Contents/MacOS/WhatsApp /secondary

Two remarks:

  1. The app seems to crash if you subsequently close the terminal (even if you use &) so keep your terminal open. Sudo may solve this (as seen here) but I didn't really try.

  2. If anyone knows how to make it launch from Spotlight, please share your ideas. I would love to improve on this method and make it easier to use.

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  • Plain Sudo should not be used here as tha app runs as a user. I guess the two WhatsApp apps need to be run as different users. If so create another user and sudo that app
    – mmmmmm
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 11:34
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    No more works with the latest version of Whatsapp
    – ahmadalibaloch
    Commented Nov 8, 2023 at 14:14
  • ‎Another instance of WhatsApp is already running - ‎You can not run two instances of WhatsApp. Please quit the other instance and try again.
    – danorton
    Commented May 23 at 18:24
  • Works as of today on Mac os 15 (beta) - you can close terminal and the app will restart. No problem.
    – Jas
    Commented Aug 12 at 17:52
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I just found this option which is working nicely so far:

WhatsApp native app + MenubarX (WhatsApp Web)

MenubarX is basically a browser that lives in the Mac menu bar with each web app having its own icon. So while this isn't native, as it does use whatsapp web, you get a dedicated icon in the top menu bar with notification indication and it looks just like native whatsapp. Unlike whatsapp web, you don't have to look through your open browser tabs to find it.

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  • How does MenubarX help? Please edit and expand upon your answer, as it isn't at all clear how it provides a solution.
    – Greenonline
    Commented Feb 23 at 17:07
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From Finder, copy Whatsapp app into Whatsapp2

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  • Actually this is not working, copy app brings window of original applicaiton.
    – m1ld
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 9:49
  • Yes it works, it becomes two apps. Select WhatsApp, Cmd-C, Cmd-V. Rename "Copy of WhatsApp" to "WhatsApp2". Unfortunately it doesn't work on Beta Multi-device.
    – roel
    Commented Jan 15, 2022 at 0:46
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    ‎Error: Another instance of WhatsApp is already running - ‎‎You can not run two instances of WhatsApp. Please quit the other instance and try again.
    – Harry
    Commented Dec 26, 2023 at 4:22

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