How to Keep Several WhatsApp Web Accounts Apart on One PC With Separate Browser Profiles

How do you keep two WhatsApp Web accounts apart on one PC? #

Give each account its own browser profile, and link WhatsApp Web once inside each. Chrome's help page says a profile keeps "bookmarks, history, passwords, and other settings" separate, and Chromium's documentation says profile data such as cookies lives in a folder per profile. A session in one profile therefore does not touch the session in another. If the term is new, start with what a browser profile is.

What a profile separates and what it does not #

Microsoft's Edge page says each Edge profile likewise has its own browsing history, bookmarks and other data. WhatsApp Web works in current Chrome, Firefox and Edge, and also Opera and Safari, but not in older browsers such as Internet Explorer.

Set up one profile per account #

1. Create the profile. Chrome: select Profile at the top right, then Add Chrome profile, and choose a name, photo and colour scheme. Signing in with a Google Account there is optional. Edge: select the profile icon at the top right, then Manage profile settings, Add profile, Add. Firefox: install Mozilla's Multi-Account Containers extension and open a container tab.
2. Name and colour it so you cannot open the wrong one. Naming ideas are below.
3. Open web.whatsapp.com in that profile. WhatsApp's own page says to scan the QR code with your phone.
4. On the phone that holds the account, check it is the active account. The Help Center calls the active account the one you are currently logged into. Then Android: More, Linked devices, Link a device. iPhone: Settings or your profile picture, Linked devices, Link device.
5. Verify and confirm. Use biometrics or the phone PIN if asked, then scan. If WhatsApp detects an unrecognised device, tap Link device only if it is yours.
6. Repeat for the next account in its own profile. Do not link a second account inside the same profile. One profile, one account.
7. Keep each phone in use. WhatsApp says to log in on the primary phone every 14 days to keep linked devices connected.

On a computer other people can reach, WhatsApp's security tips say app lock can protect access with a password on WhatsApp Web, Windows or Mac.

Naming, hand-over and backups #

Naming. Put the brand or client first, then the role, for example ACME / Support. Give each client a colour; Chrome lets you pick one when you create the profile. Keep full phone numbers out of profile names.

Hand-over. Hand over access, not the profile. The phone's owner scans a QR code for each colleague's own browser, within the four-device limit, and for a client's number the client does the scan. To retire a profile, log it out from the phone (Linked devices, tap the device, Log out), then delete it: in Chrome choose Profile, Manage Chrome profiles, pick the profile, then More and Delete.

Backups. Two different things need protecting:

• The account's chats. WhatsApp's own tool is the chat backup on the phone; on Android that is More, Settings, Chats, Chat backup, Back up to your Google Account.
• The profile folder. Each profile is a subfolder of Chrome's user data directory, which holds history, bookmarks and cookies. On Windows the default is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data. Treat any copy as sensitive and do not email it or leave it on a shared drive.

When ordinary profiles are not enough #

No setup can promise how WhatsApp will treat an account. These are conveniences, not protections.

If a profile misbehaves #

• It signs out. WhatsApp's documented causes sit on the phone or the account: the 14-day rule, a device logged out from the list, a re-registered number, a restriction. The sign-out guide goes through them.
• The wrong account is in the wrong profile. Log out in WhatsApp Web (Settings, Log out, Log out) or from the phone's list, then link the right account.
• The QR code will not load. Try a supported browser. WhatsApp's connection page suggests refreshing, clearing the cache and cookies, logging out and back in, restarting the device or trying another network.
• A link is refused. The limit is four linked devices per account. Log one out.

Where ADSSPEED fits #

ADSSPEED is a Windows and macOS app for managing many browser profiles. In each profile, cookies, local data and browser settings stay separate, so accounts you manage can remain signed in next to each other without logging each other out. A proxy can be set per profile or assigned to many profiles in bulk, and profiles can be opened, stopped and organised in bulk. Profile data stays on your own computer. Android phone profiles, each with its own device configuration, run mobile apps on a PC. Each WhatsApp account still needs its own number and phone. Setup is in installing ADSSPEED on Windows. ADSSPEED is not affiliated with WhatsApp.