WhatsApp has been free for over a decade, but Meta is starting to change that. The company is testing a paid subscription tier called WhatsApp Plus, and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you probably will soon. The rollout was first spotted by WABetaInfo, and Meta’s own Help Center page has since confirmed some of the details. 

So, what do you actually get?

Right now, WhatsApp Plus is mostly about personalization. Subscribers get access to premium stickers with special effects, the ability to swap out the app’s themes and icons, and a custom ringtone option for specific contacts. You can also pin up to 20 chats instead of the usual limit, and get more granular control over chat list alerts and notification sounds.

It’s cosmetic-heavy for now, but WABetaInfo notes that Meta is actively exploring more features for the premium tier, so this is likely just the starting point.

The basics still stay free

To be clear, none of WhatsApp’s core functionality is going anywhere — messaging, voice, and video calls, and end-to-end encryption remain free. WhatsApp Plus is purely additive, at least for now. As for the pricing, it hasn’t been officially announced, but early regional pricing spotted by WABetaInfo ranges from 229 Pakistani Rupees (under $1) to €2.49, which works out to roughly $3. The pricing gap between regions is pretty significant, so expect localized tiers once this rolls out more broadly. Meta is also reportedly considering one-month free trials to get users in the door.

Meta is also running a similar test with Instagram Plus, which has been previewing features like extended Stories and “super hearts.” Neither product has official pricing yet, but it’s becoming clear that Meta is building out a premium layer across its whole app family. Whether users will actually pay for sticker effects and custom themes is a different question, but given WhatsApp’s massive user base, even a small conversion rate would add up fast.