WhatsApp is quietly experimenting with a new paid subscription tier called WhatsApp Plus, a move that mirrors the “premium” add-ons seen in other major social apps. The idea is simple: users who want a more personalized WhatsApp experience could pay a monthly fee to unlock extra customization tools such as app icons, chat themes, ringtones, and notification sounds.
Early details suggest the focus is mostly on cosmetic upgrades rather than must-have new functions. In other words, WhatsApp Plus appears designed for people who care about how their chats look and feel, not necessarily for users looking for major new messaging capabilities.
The company has described WhatsApp Plus as an optional subscription aimed at helping users “organize and personalize” their experience. Alongside visual customization, the plan also leans into convenience features that power users have wanted for a while. One of the most notable changes is expanded pinned chats: subscribers may be able to pin up to 20 conversations, compared to the current free-tier limit of three. That’s a meaningful quality-of-life upgrade for anyone juggling busy group chats, family threads, and work conversations at the same time.
Another feature being tested is more advanced organization through custom lists, plus the ability to apply specific themes, ringtones, and notification tones to those lists. That could make it easier to distinguish between important chats and everything else—without needing to constantly tweak settings manually.
Pricing hasn’t been officially announced, but reports indicate WhatsApp Plus could cost around €2.49 per month in parts of Europe and about 229 PKR (roughly $0.82) in Pakistan. There’s also talk of a one-month free trial being offered to some users, which would make it easier for people to try the subscription before committing.
Notably, the current information doesn’t mention removing ads from the Status feature, which began showing ads last year. That’s important because some users might expect a paid tier to eliminate ads, but so far WhatsApp Plus seems positioned as a personalization upgrade rather than an “ad-free” plan.
For longtime users, this isn’t WhatsApp’s first flirtation with subscriptions. More than a decade ago, WhatsApp charged a small annual fee in certain regions. After the app was acquired by Facebook (now Meta), that fee was dropped in 2016. Since then, WhatsApp’s monetization has centered on business messaging tools—helping companies connect with customers and encouraging “click-to-WhatsApp” ads that drive conversations inside the app.
That strategy has become a major revenue driver. Meta has recently highlighted strong growth fueled in large part by paid messaging on WhatsApp, and the company has said WhatsApp has reached a multi-billion-dollar annualized revenue pace. Against that backdrop, a premium consumer subscription like WhatsApp Plus could be another way to diversify income—without changing the core free messaging experience for everyone.
Still, it’s worth keeping expectations in check. WhatsApp Plus is being tested in limited markets, meaning only a small slice of WhatsApp’s massive 3-billion-plus user base will even have the option to subscribe in the near term. So while it’s an interesting signal of where WhatsApp could be heading—more personalization, more paid extras—it likely won’t have an immediate impact at scale until a wider rollout happens.
For now, WhatsApp Plus looks like a paid “customization and organization” bundle: more themes, more sounds, more pinned chats, and more ways to make WhatsApp feel personal—while the app’s essential messaging features remain free for everyone else.
