WhatsApp is testing a green dot online indicator on its iOS beta application, a feature that shows in real time when a contact is actively using the platform. The indicator appears as a small circle at the bottom right corner of a contact’s profile photo and disappears the moment that person closes the application or goes offline. The feature is currently available on beta version 26.26.10.72 of the application, accessible through Apple’s TestFlight platform, and was first spotted by WABetaInfo, a tracker that closely follows WhatsApp’s ongoing development changes.
The rollout follows a similar test that began on Android last month, marking the beginning of what appears to be a wider push across both major mobile platforms. The company has not announced a stable release date for the general public, and the expansion is expected to remain gradual, with additional beta testers likely to gain access over the coming weeks. Some users on the standard version of the application available through the App Store may also receive limited access to the feature during this testing period. The new visual indicator effectively replaces WhatsApp’s previous text based Online label, offering a cleaner and more immediate way for users to check a contact’s availability at a glance, similar to features long offered by platforms such as Instagram, Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and LinkedIn.
Privacy remains a central consideration in how the feature has been designed. The green dot fully respects a user’s existing privacy settings, meaning that if someone has already chosen to hide their last seen status or online indicator, the green dot will simply not appear to others regardless of their actual activity on the application. This ensures that no user is exposed without their consent, and that existing visibility preferences remain fully intact under the new system. However, some industry observers have pointed out that WhatsApp has not yet clarified whether the same level of granular privacy control will extend specifically to the green dot indicator on its own, separate from the broader online status settings.
At present, the indicator is limited to the contact information screen, which users can access by tapping a contact’s profile photo from within an open chat. It does not yet appear within the main chat list or across the general Chats tab, and industry watchers widely expect the feature to eventually expand into these more visible areas before any stable release takes place. The green dot is also understood to be connected to an upcoming Contacts hub that the company is developing separately, which would bring together online and recently active contacts in a single dedicated section of the application, further building on WhatsApp’s ongoing effort to modernise how users track real time availability within the platform.
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