We had to wait a while, but from now on, WhatsApp shows ads in their app. The advertising does not go so far that it is visible in your chat conversations, but you will indeed come across them.
The advertisements are shown in the ‘Updates’ tab and you will see the advertising appear during the points of status updates. Unfortunately you cannot disable this form of advertising in the app.
WhatsApp shows ads
Since June 16, 2025, WhatsApp has shown advertisements in the app that can be found in tab ‘Updates’. You will find both channels and status at this location. In their own words Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, has worked hard for the past 2 years to turn this tab into the place where you can discover something new on WhatsApp. The tab is used by 1.5 billion people per day, a perfect place to introduce users to other organizations and companies.
Advertising on status updates
The most important and above all visible addition are the advertisements that are shown with status updates. A WhatsApp status update is a temporary photo, video, text, gif or speech message that you share with your contacts and that automatically disappears after 24 hours; You can decide for yourself who can see your status through the privacy settings. An advertisement can be visible during the transition from one status update.
Promote channels and subscriptions
You can also follow channels via the ‘Updates’ tab. A WhatsApp channel is a public, one-way chat in which administrators can share updates, news or other messages with followers, without followers being able to respond or see each other’s data. It is the perfect Namnier to keep a group of users informed of your company and to follow news. From now on channels can also buy a place in your list to promote their channel.
Finally, you can support your favorite channel by subscribing to receiving exclusive updates for a monthly amount.
Disable advertisements in WhatsApp
These new functions only appear on the Updates tab, outside your personal chats. This means that if you only use WhatsApp to chat with friends and loved ones, there is no change in your experience. Unfortunately you cannot disable or buy off the advertisements in WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has been working on plans for years to develop a company that does not interrupt personal chats and believes that the updates tab is the right place to make these new functions work. Companies and channel managers who want to get started can do here find more information.
Advertising and privacy
WhatsApp has designed these functions as privately as possible. Personal chat messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, which means that nobody, even WhatsApp, can watch or listen to them.
For showing advertisements in status or channels that may be relevant, WhatsApp uses limited information such as the country or city of the user, the language, the channels that are followed and how the advertisements are shown. For people who choose to add WhatsApp to the Account Center, their advertising choices and information from their meta accounts are also used.
WhatsApp never sells or shares the telephone number of users with advertisers. Personal chat messages, calls and groups of which someone is a member are not used to determine which advertisements may be shown.