Why does WhatsApp say, “Live location is not available on this device. View location on your primary phone”?

I was on my way for an appointment and needed help with finding my way. Because I could not locate my destination in Google Maps, I asked someone at my destination address to share their Live Location with me, and they did. But when I tapped on the link they sent, WhatsApp displayed the following message to me: “Not available: Live location is not available on this device. View location on your primary phone.”

Before this encounter, I had used Live Location on multiple occasions and had never encountered this issue before. Why was this happening now? What triggered this? And what did WhatsApp mean by my primary device? I kept turning the issue around in my head for a while. It wasn’t until after I had found my way to my destination that I was able to figure out what was happening.

I had forgotten that the phone in my hand was a linked device. My WhatsApp account was logged into on another phone and that phone was offline at that time. Apparently, Live Location would not work on a linked device if the primary device was unreachable. I am not sure why this is the case, but it is what it is.

Knowing this now, if you will need to use Live Location via WhatsApp, preferably use your main device. If you have to use a linked device, make sure that the host device has an Internet connection. That would have solved my problem back then.