WhatsApp, in June, 2025 outlined a set of new tools designed to help businesses and channel admins increase discovery and build relationships with users on the platform’s Updates tab. In two official publications, a company blog post and a WhatsApp Business product page, the company described three primary features: channel subscriptions, promoted channels, and ads placed in Status, all of which will be surfaced in the Updates tab rather than inside private conversations.
WhatsApp said the Updates tab, where people view Status and Channels, now attracts about 1.5 billion users each day, and that the new features are intended to help people discover businesses and channels they care about. The three tools announced are: (1) channel subscriptions, enabling users to support channels by paying a monthly fee for exclusive updates; (2) promoted channels, a way for admins to increase visibility of their channels in the directory; and (3) ads in Status, which will allow businesses to appear in the Status stream and make it straightforward for users to start a conversation with them directly within WhatsApp.
The company emphasized that these experiences will be limited to the Updates tab and will not change the private messaging experience. WhatsApp reiterated that personal chats, calls and groups remain end-to-end encrypted and will not be used to target or deliver ads. According to the blog, the ad system will use a limited set of signals, such as a user’s country or city, language, the Channels they follow, and how they interact with ads, and, for users who connect WhatsApp into Meta’s Accounts Center, ad preferences from across Meta accounts. WhatsApp also said it will not sell or share users’ phone numbers with advertisers.
On the business product page, WhatsApp framed the capabilities as ways for organizations to “get discovered” and to make it easier for people to start conversations with businesses without leaving the app. The product page describes “Ads in Status” and “Promoted channels” as mechanisms to boost visibility for businesses and channels, and invites businesses to subscribe for updates as the tools roll out to more regions. The page labels the feature availability as “coming soon.”
WhatsApp’s blog post frames privacy as a central design consideration: while ads will be shown in the Updates tab, the company says it has built those features “in the most private way possible.” The post also specifies that WhatsApp will rely on limited, non-message data to select relevant ads, and it underscores that the company will not use the contents of private messages or the identities of people in users’ groups to determine what ads they see.
For businesses and channel admins, WhatsApp pointed to its business resources and the WhatsApp Business site for setup and guidance. The blog directs organizations seeking to begin using the new tools to the business site for additional information, and the business page links to help resources, privacy documentation and a subscription form so businesses and interested users can be notified as the features become available in their regions.
Both documents make clear that the changes are limited to the Updates tab and do not alter the core assertion that personal messaging will remain private and end-to-end encrypted. WhatsApp’s announcements focus on creating monetization and discovery channels for creators, brands and organizations while asserting controls intended to separate advertising activity from personal communication.
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