If your device is jailbroken, you can easily use various third-party app installers available in Cydia to install Whatsapp and keep up with your friends and family. But there’s also a way for non-jailbroken users to get Whatsapp, and it’s fairly simple. For this, you simply need access to a PC/Mac and temporarily, to an iPhone with a new SIM that hasn’t been ever registered with WhatsApp.
Get The WhatsApp .ipa File
The first step you need to take is to locate and get the WhatsApp .ipa file. To do this, simply open up iTunes and follow the steps below:
Click on the “iTunes Store” button in the top-right corner.
In the search bar, enter “WhatsApp” and press Enter.
Download the WhatsApp Messenger in the iPhone Apps section. Click on “Free” and enter your Apple ID and password when prompted.
Once the app downloads, open up the Apps section in your iTunes library.
Locate the WhatsApp app, right-click it, and select “Show In Explorer” for Windows, and “Show In Finder” for Macs.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the following locations on your Windows and Mac computers: For Windows: On your Mac: Here, you’ll find the WhatsApp app named “WhatsApp.ipa”. Copy it to your desktop for easy access later.
Download iFunBox or any other iOS file browser
You’ll now need a third-party iOS file browser on your Mac/PC to access your iPad. There are many file browsers available, but we’ll be using iFunBox for this guide. It’s free and does what it’s supposed to do. Other available file browsers include DiskAid and iExplorer. Connect your iPad to your Mac/PC and fire up iFunbox. Click on “Install app,” navigate to the desktop and select the “Whatsapp.ipa” file.
Click on it, and the app will install on your iPad. Once done, unplug your iPad from your computer. The WhatsApp icon should appear on your home screen. You’ll also notice that when you click on the icon on your iPad/iPod Touch, it won’t work. That’s because we need to perform a few other steps, detailed below.
Install WhatsApp On Your iPhone
The next step requires you to have access to an iPhone. Install Whatsapp on your iPhone as you would usually do, by downloading and installing it from the App Store. Note: You need to make sure the number you register with has never been used with WhatsApp before. For this, you can simply insert a new SIM card in your iPhone. Register with the new phone number, and make sure that WhatsApp sends you a confirmation code. Without this, WhatsApp will not work on your iPad. If you already have WhatsApp on your iPhone, re-install it before adding the new number. Once downloaded, open the app and then register a phone number – make sure this is the one you wish to use with WhatsApp on your iPad/iPod Touch. You’ll have to confirm this using a code sent to the number you give.
Once set up, connect your iPhone to your Mac and open up iFunBox. In the iPhone section, click on “User Applications:”
Here, click on the WhatsApp logo, which will open up a window containing a few different files.
The ones you need are the “Library” and “Documents” folders, as these contain the registration data for WhatsApp. Copy these to your desktop by selecting the folders and clicking “Copy To Mac” from the Menu Bar.
Copy The Registration Data To Your iPad/iPod Touch
Now, simply unplug your iPhone and connect your iPad/iPod Touch to your Mac/PC. In your iPad/iPod Touch’s section, click on “User Applications” and click on the WhatsApp icon.
Here, simply replace the Library and Documents folders with the ones we copied from the iPhone earlier, thus copying the registration data over to the iPad. Do this by selecting “Copy From Mac” from the menu bar and selecting the folders from your Desktop.
And that’s it, you should now have WhatsApp running on your iPad/iPod Touch. If the app repeatedly says, “The device is not supported,” try restarting your device.
Make sure you followed the steps above carefully, and if you still have any other issues with the install, make sure to let us know in the comments below.
