WhatsApp is testing a new Contacts tab on Android
WhatsApp is finally working on a feature that lets users see who is online from a dedicated tab. The Contacts tab will bring all contacts in the same section, and a green dot will identify users who are online. Users will be able to sort the contact list and check birthday reminders.
| Key Points | Details |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Contacts tab |
| Status: | Under development |
| Availability info: | This feature is currently in development and not yet available for beta testing. |
| Previous news: | WhatsApp is rolling out Liquid Glass design for the video player! |
WhatsApp was developing a list of online contacts on Android
In the post about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.13.3 update, we announced a feature that shows which contacts are currently online. WhatsApp planned to introduce this section in a dedicated page in the app settings, where users could see the full list of their contacts and their online status. With this feature, users will be able to sort their contacts by activity or alphabetically. However, users who disabled their online status will not appear in the list.
WhatsApp is now testing a dedicated Contacts tab on Android
WhatsApp is now evolving the initial concept into something more complete. Specifically, WhatsApp no longer plans to add this section to the app settings. Instead, WhatsApp is building a dedicated tab for the contacts list. We discovered this with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.40.3 update, which is available on the Google Play Store. With this update, WhatsApp is testing a new Contacts tab where users can find their contacts in the same screen. The tab will give users a central place to see who is online, check birthday reminders, and invite new people to WhatsApp.
What the Contacts tab shows
WhatsApp will include a search bar at the top of the screen to let users look up a contact by name, number or username. The section will display the full contact list, and users can sort it by activity or alphabetically. WhatsApp highlights contacts who are currently online with a green dot over their profile photo. For contacts who are not online, WhatsApp shows their last seen when available. At the end of the contacts list, WhatsApp also shows a shortcut to open a chat with Meta AI. At the bottom of the tab, users will find the "Invite a friend" section that lets them share a link to bring new people to WhatsApp.
How the sorting options work for the Contacts tab
Users will be able to sort the contact list by activity or alphabetically. By choosing "Activity", WhatsApp will show contacts who are currently online at the top of the list. Contacts who are not online appear below, and the most recently active ones at the top. The "Alphabetical" option lists all contacts in alphabetical order regardless of their online status. In both sorting modes, WhatsApp shows contacts who are currently online with a green dot to make them easier to spot at a glance.
WhatsApp will introduce birthday reminders in the Contacts tab
WhatsApp also plans to show birthday reminders in the new Contacts tab. As reported in the post about the WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.38.10.18 update, WhatsApp is working on a feature that shows when a contact has a birthday. In this case, WhatsApp will display a cake emoji and "Birthday today" next to the contact's name. Users will notice the reminder as soon as they open the tab, making it simpler to send a birthday message at the right time. WhatsApp pulls the birthday information from the phone's address book automatically. As a result, users will have to make sure they save the birthday in their address book to see it in WhatsApp.
The Contacts tab respects privacy settings
The Contacts tab only shows what a contact has allowed others to see. If a contact has disabled their last seen, they will not appear in the list sorted by recent activity. If a contact has also hidden their online status, the green dot will not appear for them. This means that privacy settings always take priority, no matter how users sort the list. If most contacts have hidden their online status, the Contacts tab may not show much. Any information a contact has set to private is not visible in this tab either.
WhatsApp is developing the Contacts tab for a future Android update
The Contacts tab is currently under development on Android. Since it is in development, the feature is not available yet. WhatsApp will release this feature to the public in a future update. At the moment, WhatsApp has not announced when this feature is ready for release.
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