WhatsApp officially launched the “Username” feature for its users. Although the Meta-owned messaging giant has made it official, the public rollout won’t start anytime soon, as the timeline is “later this year.”

Handing someone your phone number has always felt like an oddly intimate gesture for what’s often a casual interaction.

What’s notable is how WhatsApp is framing this purely as a privacy upgrade rather than a social feature. You will need someone’s exact username to message them, and the messaging platform is expected to offer some life-saving tools.

In particular, WhatsApp is adding an optional “username key,” essentially a second layer requiring people to know a specific code before they can reach you.

Usernames are our latest step to make WhatsApp even more private. There’s no directory to browse and no suggestions; people will need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time. To help control who can reach you on WhatsApp with your username, we’ve built an optional username key that others will need to know to message you.

The Instagram and Facebook handle-matching option is a smart touch too. Creators and businesses spend years building recognition around a single handle, and letting them carry that identity into WhatsApp without losing it to a stranger.

How to reserve your WhatsApp Username

Worth grabbing your preferred username now regardless, since with three billion people already on the app, the obvious choices won’t survive the week. Head to Settings, then Account, then Username, and lock it in.

WhatsApp is making Meta AI more useful with a new feature called Side Chat, giving users a private way to get AI assistance without leaving their conversations.

WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp Side Chat feature is currently rolling out to a limited number of Android and iOS users, and it focuses on one key idea: letting Meta AI understand a conversation’s context while keeping the interaction protected.

Side Chat arrives as an extension of WhatsApp’s growing AI push. Earlier, Meta introduced Incognito Chat with Meta AI, which allowed users to have private AI conversations where messages disappear after closing the session.

Meanwhile, the Side Chat takes a different approach. Instead of starting a separate AI conversation, it lets users ask Meta AI for help based on an existing chat.

Here are the seven features WhatsApp users can expect:

1. Private AI help inside your chats
2. A separate panel for private questions
3. Context-aware replies without copy and paste
4. Web Search support for better answers
5. Private Processing keeps the feature secure
6. Different from @Meta AI in regular chats
7. Inaccessible when Disappearing messages and Advanced Chat Privacy enabled

The rollout is still limited, and WhatsApp has not publicly shared a timeline for wider availability. If the feature reaches more users, it could become one of the more practical ways Meta AI appears inside WhatsApp.

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• WhatsApp is bringing the Mentions feature to text Status updates

June 20, 2026 | WhatsApp is rolling out a minor visual upgrade that makes a great positive impact on the user experience. WhatsApp is testing a new online indicator for Android devices, which is a familiar Green Dot.

As discovered by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp will show a Green Dot on profile icons when the contact is online on the messaging app. Instagram and Telegram users are familiar with the online indicator, which is being prepared for WhatsApp.

June 19, 2026 | WhatsApp Beta in iOS brings back smoother message animations. The app’s Android Beta has recently adopted new animations, which are now expanding to Apple users after a brief pause in previous Beta builds.

Recently, WhatsApp Android Beta added smoother message sending animations. Apple users who are testing WhatsApp Beta are now getting (via WABetaInfo) this visual improvement as well.

WhatsApp Beta for iOS 26.24.10.70 carries the visual changes for Apple devices. They appeared on Android as part of WhatsApp Beta for Android 2.26.23.11 last week.

The new animations ensure a more lively chatting experience on the page. Tapping the send button will no longer immediately surface the message bubble.

Rather, the message bubble will carry a smooth animation to appear alive by fading smoothly. WhatsApp is also bringing controls, so you don’t have to end up dealing with the animations as a necessity.

The animations will also be in effect when you receive a new message. The iOS version, which replaced the previous one, is something different from Android.

Unlike the previous animation effect, the message bubble now fades in while slightly scaling up as it settles into the conversation, which feels noticeably smoother.

The option is available within WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Animations, where users can control animations for emojis, stickers, and GIFs.

The changes are currently limited to the Beta version of the application. Users will receive the new animations once developers verify the stability of these visual improvements.

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• 3 big changes coming to WhatsApp: Home screen widgets, group overhauls, and feature retirements

WhatsApp is testing a series of UI changes and feature adjustments. Recent beta releases reveal that the messaging giant is focusing heavily on home screen accessibility, streamlined group management, and cleaning up underutilized features.

Here is a breakdown of the three major changes currently rolling out or under development.

Widget for voice messages

WhatsApp is expanding its Android home screen shortcuts to streamline daily interactions.

A new resizable 3×1 widget allows users to record voice notes with a single tap directly from their home screen, bypassing the need to open the app and locate specific chats.

Once recorded, the audio can be sent to individual contacts, multiple recipients at once, or shared as a status update.

Redesigned group chat info screen

WhatsApp is reorganizing the group chat info interface by introducing two dedicated hubs at the very top of the screen:

• Preferences: Consolidates personal choices like Chat Themes, Media Visibility, and storage management tools.
• Privacy: Houses security configurations, including Chat Lock settings and end-to-end encryption details.

You may like: WhatsApp is redesigning its About section with a live preview screen

Privacy setting for avatar stickers

WhatsApp is discontinuing its avatar feature due to low user engagement. Users can no longer create, edit, or send new custom avatar stickers from the keyboard.

The application is also removing the associated privacy settings that controlled collaborative sticker pairing. Notably, past avatar stickers remain saved in old chats or personal favorites.

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• WhatsApp rolling out smooth message bubble animations

WhatsApp developers have begun open beta testing of a new About section, which carries a proper live preview screen. It shows exactly how your About text appears inside a chat before you save anything.

Before this update, you were basically guessing. You’d write something, save it, open a conversation, check how it looked, go back, edit it, repeat the whole cycle.

The redesign consolidates three previously separate steps into a single interface, well described by WABetaInfo. You write your About text in the field below the preview. You set an expiration time right beneath that, and a shortcut to privacy settings sits on the same screen.

The expiry options are preset: 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, with a custom setting stretching that up to one month. These durations aren’t new; they surfaced back in November 2025. The redesign just makes them accessible.

You can now toggle Privacy Settings between Everyone, My Contacts, My Contacts Except, and Nobody without leaving the About screen.

The redesigned About section is rolling out to beta testers running WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.24.1, available through the Google Play Store.

Related article: New WhatsApp message menu UI design comes from iPhone