While most U.S. users have never used—or even heard of—WhatsApp Status Updates, Meta recently revealed that the tab is now used by 1.5 billion people per day worldwide. And soon, WhatsApp will take a page from Instagram by adding a Close Friends feature.
If you’re unfamiliar with WhatsApp Status, it works much like Instagram Stories, where users can post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
For the last few years, Instagram users have enjoyed a Close Friends feature, which lets them select specific people to share updates with rather than their entire followers list.
Now, according to WABetaInfo, Meta is preparing to bring that same option to the 1.5 billion daily WhatsApp Status users, who currently can only choose between:
“My Contacts,” which shares the update with their entier contact list;
“My Contacts Except…,”, which shares the update with all their contacts, except specific people;
“Only Share With…,” which only shares the update with selected contacts.
📝 WhatsApp beta for iOS 25.23.10.80: what's new?
WhatsApp is working on a feature that allows users to share status updates with their close friends, and it will be available in a future update!https://t.co/6ejyygW6Hc pic.twitter.com/uxtVQ02UAO — WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) August 31, 2025
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