WhatsApp is making a small but important change to message notifications for iOS users. While the change is currently only visible to beta testers, it will be rolled out to more users over time.
With the latest iOS beta version of WhatsApp it’s getting easier to see who a message is from. The change concerns app notifications and makes the iOS version of the app compatible with the Android version.
With this change, iOS users will now be able to see profile pictures next to messages in notifications. This feature has been available to Android users for a while, and it’s a simple yet effective method that makes it pretty easy to know at a glance who a notification is about.
Profile pictures are not only visible for chats with individuals, but also next to notifications for group chats. Because the new feature uses APIs included as part of iOS 15, profile pictures in notifications are only available to beta testers running this version of iOS.
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Unfortunately, just being part of the WhatsApp beta program for iOS is not enough to access this updated feature. Even if you have the latest beta version of the app installed, WhatsApp seems to enable this feature from the server side for user groups.
For now, all you can do is wait. If you are not a beta tester, you may have a long wait, as WhatsApp has not given a date for the general release of the feature. In other words, it seems impossible for now to say exactly when users who did not participate in the beta test will take advantage of the benefits of this update.