Sideload Watusi (no jailbreak)
Install Watusi on any recent iOS, next to your normal WhatsApp and linked to it, so notifications and iCloud backup keep working.
Updated
You'll need
- WhatsApp from the App Store, signed in with your number
- A Mac or Windows PC for AltStore — or a paid signing service instead
- A second device to show a QR code on (a computer or another phone)
What works afterwards
- Notifications
- Through WhatsApp
- iCloud backup
- Through WhatsApp
- Keeps working
- 7 days to 1 year, by tool
- Computer needed
- Not with a signing service
- Cost
- Free to $99 a year, by tool
You'll end up with two WhatsApps on your iPhone, both on the same account:
- the normal WhatsApp from the App Store, which keeps delivering notifications and backing up to iCloud, and
- Watusi, installed next to it as a and linked to it — the same way WhatsApp Web links to your phone. This is the one you use.
Note
Why two? A WhatsApp can't receive notifications or back up to iCloud, however it's signed — Apple doesn't give out the permission it needs. Linking Watusi to the App Store WhatsApp gets you both anyway.
Download Watusi
Download the Recommended file on your iPhone — or skip this and install from our source in the next step. It's the duplicate build, which installs next to WhatsApp instead of replacing it.
Watusi 3 1.3.26 · released 30 Sep 2026
WhatsApp · Duplicate
Runs alongside the App Store WhatsApp
Technical details
- Build
- Watusi (Duplicate)
- Bundle ID
- com.fouadraheb.watusi
- App version
- 26.38.74
- Config
- WA-SL-Duplicate
Other versions (3)
WhatsApp Business · Duplicate
Runs alongside the App Store WhatsApp Business
Technical details
- Build
- Watusi (Business Duplicate)
- Bundle ID
- com.fouadraheb.watusiSMB
- App version
- 26.38.74
- Config
- SMB-SL-Duplicate
Replaces the App Store WhatsApp
Technical details
- Build
- Watusi
- Bundle ID
- net.whatsapp.WhatsApp
- App version
- 26.38.74
- Config
- WA-SL
WhatsApp Business
Replaces the App Store WhatsApp Business
Technical details
- Build
- Watusi (Business)
- Bundle ID
- net.whatsapp.WhatsAppSMB
- App version
- 26.38.74
- Config
- SMB-SL
Use WhatsApp Business? Pick the Business duplicate under Other versions. Everything below works exactly the same — you'll link it to WhatsApp Business instead of WhatsApp.
Install it on your iPhone
Pick the tool you'll use. Not sure? AltStore is free if you have a computer; a signing service needs no computer but costs money.
Free. Needs a Mac or Windows PC. The app keeps working for 7 days at a time; AltStore refreshes it automatically while your iPhone and computer are on the same Wi-Fi.
Paid, no computer. A signing service installs apps straight onto your iPhone, and they keep working for about a year.
- Get a signing certificate. Flekstore is one of the more reliable services.
- In your signing app — Flekstore, Feather, ESign, GBox or similar — add our source:
https://source.fouadraheb.com - Install Watusi (Duplicate) from the source, or open the file you downloaded above in your signing app.
$99 a year from Apple, and the most work. You sign the app yourself, it lasts a year, and nobody else can revoke it.
- Create your certificate and provisioning profile with create a distribution certificate. You'll need a Mac.
- In a signing app like Feather, ESign or GBox, add our source
https://source.fouadraheb.comand pick Watusi (Duplicate) — or use the file you downloaded above. - Sign it with your certificate and profile, and install it.
Let your iPhone open it
On iOS 16 and newer, your iPhone won't open a sideloaded app until is on.
Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Developer Mode. The option only appears once a sideloaded app is installed.
Turn it on. Your iPhone restarts.
After the restart, confirm the prompt.
If Watusi says Untrusted Developer when you open it, go to Settings → General → VPN & Device Management, tap the profile under Developer App and tap Trust.
Link Watusi to WhatsApp
Now connect Watusi to your normal WhatsApp, so they share one account.
Open Watusi. On the welcome screen, tap the animated picture three times to open Watusi's settings.
Go to Notifications, turn on Enable Local Notifications, and set it to Audio. If Audio doesn't work later, come back and try Location.
Go back, tap Agree and Continue, then Link this device. A QR code appears.
Screenshot the QR code and send it to your other device — a computer or a second phone — so you can show it on that screen. Leave Watusi open in the background.
Open the App Store WhatsApp and go to Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device. Scan the QR code on your other device.
Switch back to Watusi and wait for your chats to load.
Open Watusi's settings again and turn Enable Local Notifications off.
Careful
Don't skip the last step. Leaving Local Notifications on can log Watusi out, and you'd have to link it again.
Finishing touches
Not required, but they make two WhatsApps feel like one:
- Hide the App Store WhatsApp from your home screen (long-press → Remove App → Remove from Home Screen), so you always open Watusi.
- Turn off Watusi's notifications in iOS Settings, so you don't get everything twice — the App Store WhatsApp already notifies you.
- Add a Shortcuts automation that opens Watusi whenever WhatsApp opens, so tapping a notification lands you in Watusi.
- Open the App Store WhatsApp now and then, so it keeps syncing and backing up to iCloud.
What to expect
Rather replace WhatsApp completely?
You can install the non-duplicate build instead (under Other versions in the downloads above). It replaces the App Store WhatsApp rather than sitting next to it, so you skip linking — but then notifications won't arrive and iCloud backup won't work at all. You'd back up by hand: back up and restore chats manually.
Did it work?
Yes — what's next
- Back up and restore Watusi chats manuallyiCloud backup doesn't work on a sideloaded WhatsApp, but you can copy your chats yourself with the Files app.
- How to sideload our appsThe three tools for installing our apps without a jailbreak — AltStore, a signing service, or your own developer account — and how they compare.
Not yet
Check the common fixesCrashes, “Unable to Verify App”, apps that stop after a weekStill stuck? Tell us which guide and step you're on, and the exact error.