WhatsApp's desktop app lets you chat with your friends and family on your PC with ease. You can also use the same account on two phones with WhatsApp's improved multi-device support. But to link your primary WhatsApp account to another device, you need to scan a QR code. What if you can't scan the code because your phone's camera is broken? Don't worry, WhatsApp is working on a new login method that uses an eight-digit code sent to your phone.
The new login method is called "Link with phone number instead." It lets you enter your country code and mobile number instead of scanning a QR code. Then, WhatsApp will send you an eight-digit code on your primary phone. You must enter this code on the secondary device to link it with your account. This option is currently available on WhatsApp Web for beta testers. It may soon come to other devices as well.
WABetaInfo reports that this option appears in the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.14.18 build when linking a new WhatsApp desktop instance. Note that the "Link with phone number instead" option may not show up even if you have the latest beta release. This is because WhatsApp also needs to enable it from their server side. We expect WhatsApp to roll out this feature to more beta testers soon.