For years, the internet has been flooded with hoax chain messages warning users that WhatsApp was about to start charging for its services. Those rumors never came to anything, and the app has remained free to use for well over a decade. Now, however, there may finally be something real to pay attention to, as reports suggest the platform owned by Meta is quietly developing a paid premium option. The information comes from WABetaInfo, a well-known source that tracks WhatsApp updates and unreleased features, which shared the news via its account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to WABetaInfo, the new paid tier would be called WhatsApp Plus and would sit alongside the existing free version rather than replacing it. The core messaging experience that billions of users rely on every day would remain entirely free of charge. WhatsApp Plus would instead offer a range of additional features aimed at users who want more control over the look and feel of the app. It appears to be a purely cosmetic and personalization-focused upgrade rather than a change to any fundamental functionality.
The most notable additions rumored to come with WhatsApp Plus involve deep customization of the app’s appearance. Users who subscribe would reportedly be able to change the app’s theme, color scheme, and icon, with as many as 14 new icon designs available to choose from. Additional color palettes and interface elements would also be on offer, giving paying users the ability to make their version of the app look noticeably different from the standard build. For anyone who has long wished WhatsApp allowed more visual personalization, this would mark a significant shift from the app’s traditionally uniform design.
Beyond aesthetics, the premium subscription would reportedly include at least two other practical upgrades. Subscribers would be able to pin up to 20 conversations at the top of their chat list, a considerable jump from the current limit of three pinned chats. For people who manage a large number of active conversations, whether for personal or professional reasons, that expanded pinning capacity could be genuinely useful. The third rumored perk involves exclusive ringtones that would only be available to WhatsApp Plus subscribers, with the added benefit that these tones would make it easier to distinguish incoming WhatsApp call notifications from those of other apps.
At this point, neither a release date nor a subscription price has been announced, and it remains unclear when WhatsApp Plus might officially roll out to users. It is worth noting that WhatsApp has experimented with monetization in various ways over the years, including through its business-focused tools and API services. A consumer-facing subscription, however, would be a new direction entirely and would bring WhatsApp closer in line with the premium tier models adopted by platforms like Telegram, which has long offered a paid version with expanded features. Whether the broader user base would be receptive to paying for an app they have always used for free remains an open question.
Meta has not made any official announcement confirming WhatsApp Plus, so everything currently known about it comes through leaks and beta testing analysis. WABetaInfo has a strong track record of accurately reporting on WhatsApp features before they are officially revealed, which gives the report credibility, even if details could change before any public launch. For now, users can only wait to see whether the company officially confirms the new tier and what pricing it might attach to it.
WhatsApp was originally launched in 2009 and actually did charge a small annual fee of 99 cents in some markets during its early years, before Facebook acquired it in 2014 and dropped all fees entirely. The app currently has more than two billion active users across the globe, making it one of the most widely used communication tools in history. WhatsApp’s parent company Meta generates the vast majority of its revenue through advertising across Facebook and Instagram, but WhatsApp itself has historically been a non-revenue product for the company, which makes the potential introduction of a subscription tier a notable strategic moment. The name “WhatsApp Plus” is also somewhat ironic given that unofficial modified versions of the app sharing that same name have existed for years in grey-market form, used by people who wanted customization features the official app never offered.
Would you pay for a WhatsApp subscription if it meant more personalization options? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
