WhatsApp Release Notes

Group Message History

We’re excited to introduce Group Message History, a feature that makes group chats even more welcoming without interruption. Now, group admins and members can choose to send recent messages to new members, so they can catch up quickly.

One of our most requested features, it’s another example of how WhatsApp is leading the way in group messaging, no matter your device. Group Message History remains end-to-end encrypted like all other personal messages, giving you a quicker, more private way to keep conversations flowing, with no more screenshots, and no more unnecessary message forwarding.

When you add someone new to a group chat, you’ll see an option to send recent messages to them - from 25 up to 100 maximum. This keeps things simple, ensuring new members only need to read the most relevant, recent context, and the whole group can easily see the messages that have been shared.

Sending message history is an action you have to take and admins have the option to disable the setting for their groups. Admins will always be able to share message history.

For transparency, when message history is sent, everyone in the group is notified, with clear timestamps and sender information, and message history is visually distinct from regular messages.

We’ve started rolling out Group Message History gradually, and look forward to continuing to set the standard for private, group chat experiences on WhatsApp.

Strict Account Settings

At WhatsApp, we think you should be able to have a private conversation online, just like you would in-person. We will always defend that right to privacy for everyone, starting with default end-to-end encryption. But we also know that a few of our users – like journalists or public-facing figures – may need extreme safeguards against rare and highly-sophisticated cyber attacks.

If you turn this on, certain account settings will lock to the most restrictive settings, and it will limit how your WhatsApp works in some ways, like blocking attachments and media from people not in your contacts. You can enable Strict Account Settings – which is rolling out gradually over the coming weeks – by going to Settings > Privacy > Advanced.

Strict Account Settings is one of many ways we’re working to protect you from the most sophisticated of cyber threats. We’ve also rolled out a programming language called Rust behind the scenes to help keep your photos, videos, and messages safe from things like spyware, so you can share and chat with confidence. To go deeper in the tech, click here.

Rust behind the scenes

To go deeper in the tech, click here.

Takeaways

• Today, we’re adding Strict Account Settings on WhatsApp, a lockdown-style feature that further protects your account from highly sophisticated cyber attacks.
• We think this feature will be particularly useful for people who may be targets of rare but sophisticated cyber attacks, like journalists or public figures.

We believe you should be able to have private conversations on your devices, just like you would in person. That’s why WhatsApp provides a private and secure experience for everyone, with default end-to-end encryption for your personal messages and calls. We’re always building more layers of security, and for the few people who may be targets of sophisticated and rare cyber attacks — like journalists or public figures — we’re adding a new extreme protection feature called Strict Account Settings.

This lockdown-style feature bolsters your security on WhatsApp even further with just a few taps by locking your account to the most restrictive settings like automatically blocking attachments and media from unknown senders, silencing calls from people you don’t know, and restricting other settings that may limit how the app works.

You can turn on Strict Account Settings, which will be rolling out in the coming weeks, by going to your WhatsApp Settings, then to Privacy, and then to Advanced.

Strict Account Settings is one of the many ways we’re working to protect you from the most sophisticated cyber threats. You can learn more about Strict Account Settings on WhatsApp and how to use the feature here.

WhatsApp group chats updates

It’s a new year and a great time for some upgrades to your group chats. Group chats on WhatsApp make it easier to stay connected with the people in your life no matter what device they own – whether it’s sharing New Year’s resolutions, preparing for that special celebration you have coming up, or planning to win your football league.

Today, we’re introducing new features that make staying connected and expressing yourself in group chats even better.

Member tags:

We all wear different hats and sometimes you want to give that more context in a group chat. Now you can give yourself a tag that tells the group what your role is, and can be customized for each group you’re in. So you can be “Anna's Dad” in one group, and “Goalkeeper” in another.

Text stickers:

For the messages you want to really stand out, you can now turn any word into a sticker by typing your text into Sticker Search. You can also add newly created stickers directly to your sticker packs instead of having to send them in a chat first.

Event reminders:

Now when you create and send an event in your group chat you can set custom early reminders for your invitees. This helps everyone remember to commute to the party you’re hosting or hop on the call at the right time, depending on the event type.

These new updates join a bunch of great features we’ve launched over the years to bring groups closer together – like sharing large files up to 2GB, HD media, screen sharing, voice chats, and more. We believe WhatsApp offers the best group chat experience, and we’re committed to making it even better.

Group chats on WhatsApp

Group chats on WhatsApp make it easy to stay connected with the people in your life no matter what device they use. Today, we’re introducing new features that make keeping up with conversations and expressing yourself in group chats even easier.

Member tags

Now, you can give yourself a customizable tag in each of your group chats that tells the group what your role is. Member tags can be especially useful in larger chats where you might not know everyone like clubs, parent groups, or community associations. For instance, you can be “Anna’s Dad” in one group and “Goalkeeper” in another.

Text stickers

For the messages you want to really stand out, you can now turn any word into a sticker by typing your text into Sticker Search. You can also add newly created stickers directly to your sticker packs instead of having to send them in a chat first.

Event reminders

Now, when you create and send an event in your group chat, you can set custom reminders for your invitees. These reminders help everyone remember to commute to the party you’re hosting or hop on the call at the right time, depending on the event type.

These new updates join other features we’ve launched over the years to bring groups closer together, like sharing large files up to 2GB, HD media, screen sharing, voice chats, and more.

New Year’s is our biggest day at WhatsApp

New Year’s is our biggest day at WhatsApp, with each year breaking new records for how people text and call their friends and loved ones. On a regular day, we support over 100 billion messages and 2 billion calls - but the twenty four hours when the world welcomes a New Year always tops our charts. Whether it's a video call that unites families across continents, or a group chat that organizes a celebration, we’re proud to play a small role in making people’s wishes for next year special.

This year, we've added a few festive touches, available now through the holiday, to help you share the moment with people who matter most:

• 2026 sticker pack: share your joy for the coming new year with our latest 2026 sticker pack.
• Video call effects: tap the effects icon during a video call to add fireworks, confetti, and star animations that light up the screen as you celebrate.
• Animated confetti reactions: we’re bringing back special reactions when you use the confetti emoji to react to messages.
• Status updates: for the first time, we're bringing animated stickers to Status! Use a special 2026 layout with an animated sticker to help you ring in the New Year.

If you’re the one planning New Year’s, we have a few tips for how to make the planning smooth in the group chat:

• Create an event, pin in to the chat to keep it top of mind, collect RSVPs, and keep everyone in the loop.
• Use polls to pick food, drinks, and activities.
• Share live location to help friends find their way to the party and to let you know they’ve gotten home safely.
• Send video and voice notes to capture and share authentic moments as they happen with friends who can’t attend so they’ll be sure to be there with you next year.

Whether you're texting and calling from New York or New Delhi, Buenos Aires or Jakarta, WhatsApp is where the world privately comes together. We're grateful to be part of how you connect with the people you love—privately, and securely.

From all of us at WhatsApp, Happy New Year

Calls

Missed call messages

The holidays are a busy time packed with catching up with loved ones and sometimes you may not catch someone right away. If they don’t answer, you can now record a voice or video note, depending on the call type, in one tap for them to listen to later. This new approach will make voicemails a thing of the past.

Reactions in voice chats

Voice chats help you quickly shift between messaging and talking live without ringing the whole group. Now you can react during a voice chat, so you can share a quick 'cheers!' without interrupting the conversation.

Group call speaker spotlight

On video calls, the speaker is automatically prioritized to help you easily follow along.

Chats

Meta AI image creation improvements

Meta AI has delivered new image generation model capabilities from Midjourney and Flux on WhatsApp so you’ll notice huge improvements when creating annual holiday greetings to share in your chats or status.

Animate your images with Meta AI

You can now animate any photo into a short video to add more fun and festivity in chats or to your status.

New media tab on desktop

Search for your documents, links, and media across chats all in one organized place – so it’s easier to find files and get more done faster on Mac, Windows and Web.

Cleaner link previews

We’ve improved the look of link previews, streamlining long URL links to avoid disrupting the chat and keep the conversation flowing.

Updates

New stickers on Status

We've added more ways to express yourself on Status including adding music lyrics, questions to which others can respond and interactive stickers you can tap to engage with.

Questions on Channels

We’ve also introduced questions on Channels so admins can better engage with their audience and get responses in real-time.

Stay tuned for more new features and updates soon!

About improvements to About feature

For those of you that have used WhatsApp from the very start, you’ll remember About was our first feature. Even before we brought the world private and secure messaging, we made it simple for you to quickly share what’s up in your life. Today we're reintroducing and improving About, making it more visible, timely, and easier to use.

For those days when you’re free one minute but busy the next - About can tell others why you can’t talk or what you do want to talk about with just an emoji and a short phrase.

About will now be easier to spot at the top of 1-1 chats and on your profile. You can also reply directly to people’s About by tapping on it in a chat. About will expire after one day, but you can also choose for it to disappear faster or keep it around for longer at a time of your choosing. Just go to Settings and tap ‘Set About’ to choose your timer.

You can decide who sees your About. You can set it to be seen only by your contacts, or choose to make it more widely visible in your privacy settings.

We're rolling out to everyone on mobile starting this week.

WhatsApp for Apple Watch

Today we are announcing a big upgrade for your wrist — the all-new WhatsApp app for your Apple Watch*. This new experience will help you stay on top of your chats without needing to pull out your iPhone.

In addition to reading and responding to messages, for the first time WhatsApp on Apple Watch will now support many requested features:

• Call notifications: You can see who’s calling without needing to look at your iPhone.
• Full messages: You can read full WhatsApp messages on Apple Watch — even long messages are visible directly from your wrist.
• Voice messages: You can now record and send voice messages.
• React to messages: We’ve added the ability to send quick emoji reactions to messages you receive.
• A great media experience: You’ll see clear images and stickers on your Apple Watch.
• Chat history: You can see more of your chat history on screen when reading messages.

This is just the start of making WhatsApp on your Apple Watch an even better experience. As always, your personal messages and calls remain private with end-to-end encryption. We look forward to delivering even more useful functionality for people with Apple Watch in the future.

*The new WhatsApp Apple Watch app requires Apple Watch Series 4 or later, running watchOS 10 or later.

WhatsApp for Apple Watch launch

Today, we’re launching a new WhatsApp app for Apple Watch, so you can stay on top of your WhatsApp chats without pulling out your iPhone.

The new WhatsApp app will support many of our most-requested features:

• Call notifications: You can see who’s calling without looking at your iPhone.
• Full messages: You can read full WhatsApp messages on Apple Watch — even long messages are visible directly from your wrist.
• Written messages: You can write out and send messages directly from your watch.
• Voice messages: You can record and send voice messages.
• Reactions: You can send quick emoji reactions to messages you receive.
• A great media experience: You’ll see clearer images and stickers on your Apple Watch.
• Chat history: You can see more of your chat history on screen when reading messages.

As always, your personal messages and calls remain private with end-to-end encryption.

WhatsApp for Apple Watch will be available for any Apple Watch Series 4 or later running watchOS 10 or later.

This launch is just the start, and we’ll keep improving WhatsApp for Apple Watch based on your feedback.