Comment by inkyoto

WhatsApp did not have a dedicated Watch app until 1 or 2 months ago – it was not even possible to respond to WhatsApp messages on the Watch, only seeing the mirrored notifications was possible.

You can blame Apple for other things if that is the intention, but this particular one was a decision made by Meta and by Meta only.

Write to your regulator and make a complaint that Meta is keeping the WhatsApp stage gate.