Meta has confirmed it’s testing a new paid subscription for WhatsApp, and it’s called WhatsApp Plus. This is a bit of a shift for the platform. WhatsApp has mostly stayed free for everyday features, only slowly adding things like themes and small customization tools over time. Now, it looks like Meta is ready to see if users are willing to pay for a more personalized experience.
From what the company says, WhatsApp Plus isn’t about locking core features behind a paywall. Messaging, calls, groups, all of that stays free. Instead, this is more of an add-on for people who want extra control over how the app looks and behaves. The early feature list reflects that.
WhatsApp Plus: more personalization and organization
Users on the Plus tier can pin a lot more chats, up to 20 instead of the usual three, which alone might be useful for anyone juggling work, family, and group chats at the same time. There’s also support for custom lists, where you can group chats together and apply things like notification settings, ringtones, or themes in one go.
On the cosmetic side, Meta is adding more chat themes, extra color options, and even custom ringtones for specific contacts. There’s also talk of things like custom app icons and other small visual tweaks.
Some beta reports, including from WABetaInfo, suggest this is just the start. Features like exclusive stickers, possibly with effects, and more interactive reactions could show up later if the test goes well.
Right now, though, this is still a limited rollout. Meta says it’s mainly trying to figure out whether people actually find value in these extras. There’s no official launch timeline yet, and pricing isn’t locked either, although early testing has pointed to something around €2.49 per month in a few regions.
The bigger picture here is pretty clear. Meta has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp without stuffing it with ads or breaking what people already like about it. A subscription layer like this is a relatively safe way to do that.
It also brings WhatsApp a bit closer to Telegram, which has had deeper customization options for years and has leaned more into power-user features. WhatsApp has been catching up slowly, and this feels like the next step.
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