WhatsApp is testing a new visual indicator that makes it easier for users to know whether a contact is currently online. The feature, now rolling out to a limited number of iPhone beta testers, adds a green dot to a contact's profile picture instead of requiring users to open a chat and look for the ‘Online’ status.
The update is available to select users through the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS on Apple's TestFlight programme and follows an earlier appearance in the Android beta.
The feature displays a green dot beneath a contact's profile picture when that person is actively online on WhatsApp. The indicator disappears automatically once the user goes offline. At present, the green dot appears only on the Contact Info screen, which users can access by tapping a contact's name or profile picture from within a chat.
The indicator is not yet visible in the chat list or inside the conversation window. WhatsApp frequently rolls out new features to limited sections of the app before expanding them more widely.
According to reports, the feature is currently accessible to select users using WhatsApp beta for iOS version 26.26.10.72 through Apple’s TestFlight program. It hasn’t been rolled out to all testers, and there is no official schedule of its stable launch yet.
The green dot was first seen on WhatsApp’s Android beta, indicating that the company has been testing the feature across both platforms.
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The new feature does not offer any additional transparency about the user's activity. It only serves as a graphical way to show the existing online status on WhatsApp. The current privacy options will still be applied. Users who opted to conceal their online status from certain people or from all will not see the green dot from such contacts.
In other words, the new feature does not violate users’ privacy or show any extra information. The green dot helps distinguish the existing online status of the user. The update is currently under test and shows WhatsApp's efforts to improve the app's UI.