[andyjohnson0]

"And using your cell number as identity and your contacts list as a social graph is diabolically simple."

Tthe linkage of phone number and identity seems to be the main reason why there are no tablet versions of the whatsapp client. I wonder how satisfied whatsapp/facebook are with this constraint, and whether they intent to address it? It is possible to imagine workarounds for devices that don't have a phone number, but they don't seem as friction-free as the current identity system.

[uniclaude]

You should have a look at how Line does it. You can use a login and password, but you can also use Line on another device through some QR code scanning. No password required IIRC.