Remember those chain messages your uncle kept forwarding about WhatsApp going paid? “Forward this to 10 people or your account gets deleted.” Absolute nonsense, obviously, and WhatsApp has been free since Meta dropped the original $0.99/year fee back in 2016. That isn’t changing messaging, calls, groups, media sharing, all of it stays free.
But Meta does appear to be building something on top of that free experience. WABetaInfo spotted references to an optional premium plan called WhatsApp Plus in recent beta builds for both Android and iOS, and some beta testers are already seeing a waitlist banner inside the app’s settings. This isn’t just a rumour floating around anymore. Code is being written and tested.
What WhatsApp Plus Would Actually Include
The feature list so far is heavily focused on making the app look and feel more personal. Subscribers would get around 14 new app icon options, multiple accent colour choices, and theme customization for the interface. If you’ve ever wanted WhatsApp to not look like WhatsApp, with different colours, a different icon on your home screen, this is apparently how Meta plans to let you do it. For a price.
Beyond the visual stuff, pinned chats would jump from the current limit of 3 up to 20 for subscribers. That’s actually useful if you’re someone juggling a dozen active conversations across work, family, and friend groups and constantly losing important threads in the scroll. Three-pinned chats have felt limiting for a while.
Exclusive ringtones are also part of the package, designed to help users tell WhatsApp calls apart from other app notifications. And over time, more perks could follow exclusive sticker packs, and more interactive message reactions are reportedly being considered for the paid tier.
Why Meta Is Doing This
WhatsApp has over two billion users, and Meta has always struggled to make real money from it compared to Facebook and Instagram. End-to-end encryption makes traditional in-feed advertising far less effective on a private messaging platform, so the usual Meta playbook of shoving ads into your feed doesn’t translate here.
Meta confirmed to TechCrunch back in January that it plans to test premium subscriptions across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. They already offer Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business accounts at $15/month and rolled out ad-free subscription options for Facebook and Instagram in the UK. WhatsApp Plus looks like the consumer-facing piece of that same strategy, similar to what Telegram did with Telegram Premium. Free for everyone, extras for people willing to pay.
No Price or Launch Date Yet
Meta has not identified a price, launch schedule, or priority areas. Until now, the feature has been in active development. The waitlist identified in beta is now restricted to a few testers in specific areas, but it may increase in the coming weeks.
The real question is whether people will really pay a price in order to purchase custom icons and additional pinned chats. Telegram Premium is effective, as it is packaged with truly useful services such as increased file uploads and accelerated downloading with the vanity items. Unless WhatsApp Plus manages to sell itself as a theme- and sticker-only application, it may not be easy to sell. However, as Meta considers meaningful functionality in the long run, e.g. scheduled messages, longer media storage and greater privacy options, the calculus can vary.
We’ll update this when Meta announces official details.
