Meta is rolling out paid Instagram Plus, Facebook Plus, and WhatsApp Plus plans worldwide as of today.


Instagram Plus is priced at $3.99 per month, Facebook Plus is priced at $3.99 per month, and WhatsApp Plus is priced at $2.99 per month. According to TechCrunch, the paid plans provide features like profile customization, super reactions, and story insights.

Instagram Plus lets users see how many people have rewatched a Story, and it adds unlimited audience lists for Stories for creating groups other than Close Friends. Users can spotlight a story once a week for extra views, use Super Heart animated reactions, choose custom app icons, add customized fonts to a profile bio, extend a story beyond 24 hours, and search a story viewer list to see who is watching. Subscribers will also be able to post straight to their profiles without having the post show up in their followers' feeds, and they will be able to stealthily "preview" Instagram stories without showing up as a viewer.

Facebook Plus includes most of the same features as Instagram Plus, while WhatsApp Plus includes app themes, custom ringtones, more pinned chats, list customization, and premium stickers.

Meta head of product Naomi Gleit said the company is also exploring new subscription plans for creators and businesses, along with plans for AI users. The new plans are being offered under "Meta One" branding that combines subscription offerings from multiple Meta platforms.

The $7.99 Meta One Plus plan and the $19.99 Meta One Premium plan are aimed at Meta AI users. Both plans unlock higher compute queries, reasoning, and image/video generation, but Premium offers more capacity, including deeper reasoning for complex tasks.

A Meta One Essential plan priced at $14.99 per month is designed for creators and businesses. It includes a verified badge, impersonation protection, better analytics, and a linksheet that lets users link to their online profiles on the web and on other social media networks. The $49.99 Meta One Advanced plan includes the Essential options plus features in the Facebook feed, optimized scheduling tools, notifications when others reuse a creator's content, higher rankings in Instagram and Facebook search, a bolder Follow button on Reels, and automatic follow invitations for people who engage with a creator or brand's content.

Meta is going to start testing the AI Meta One plans in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia next month. The business plans will be tested in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Thailand, and Bangladesh starting later this week.

Gleit described Meta One as a place that brings Meta subscriptions "together" across all Meta apps. She said Meta's new plans were "just the beginning with a lot more value to come."
This article, "Meta Wants You to Pay for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp Now" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp is rolling out a new media attachment sheet on iOS, providing iPhone users with a faster way to share their most recent files without losing sight of the chat.


Usually in WhatsApp, sharing media within a chat requires you to tap a plus button to reveal the app's custom share sheet, and then tap into photos to see your full library, which takes over most of the screen.

As spotted by app tinkerer WABetaInfo, the updated media sharing interface makes it easier to directly browse recent photos and videos without losing the thread of the conversation, thanks to a new recents section.

The recents section appears under the share menu icons as a compact 4x4 grid that acts as a horizontal strip that you can swipe through. If you keep scrolling to the end of the strip and still can't find what you're looking for, WhatsApp expands the view and reveals the full media gallery. It can also be quickly invoked by pressing and holding on the plus button in the input bar.

The new interface is showing up for some users of the latest WhatsApp for iOS 26.19.75, but not everyone who updates will see it immediately. It seems WhatsApp is still testing performance before a global rollout for iPhone users.


The latest change follows the recent introduction of WhatsApp's new Plus subscription for power users on iOS. It takes away nothing of the existing free functionality, but adds things like premium sticker packs, new interface colors, and new icons.
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The Meta AI app and Meta AI on WhatsApp have a new "incognito chat" option, which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said is a "completely private way to interact with AI."


Zuckerberg also said that Meta AI's incognito mode is the first major AI product where there is no log of conversations stored on servers. Zuckerberg likened the feature to end-to-end encryption, and said no one will be able to read the AI conversations, not even Meta or WhatsApp.

AI inference for incognito chat is done in a Trusted Execution Environment that Zuckerberg said is not accessible to Meta. Conversations also disappear from the phone when exiting a chat session, and nothing is saved or logged. Web searches are conducted privately, with no search information linked to the user.

"To get the most from personal superintelligence, we'll all need ways to discuss sensitive topics in ways that no one else can access," Zuckerberg said.

WhatsApp head Will Cathcart told reporters that the AI has safety guardrails, and it will refuse to answer questions that could be interpreted as harmful or illegal, steering conversations in a different direction. The mode also only supports text, and users are unable to upload images.

Incognito chat for Meta AI comes as OpenAI is facing a lawsuit for allegedly causing a teen's drug overdose. The teen asked ChatGPT for information on whether it was safe to take two drugs together, and was provided with an incorrect answer that led to his death. OpenAI has been sued several times by the families of people who used ChatGPT before dying by suicide.

Lawsuits against OpenAI have involved chat logs recovered by the plaintiffs, and without those logs, there would be far less evidence for a legal complaint over AI actions and advice.

Google and OpenAI also offer temporary chat options, but messages are still stored on remote servers. Google keeps data for up to three days, and OpenAI keeps logs for 30 days.

Meta's private chat option is rolling out in the coming months in the Meta AI app and WhatsApp.
This article, "Meta AI App Gets 'Incognito Chat' as OpenAI Faces Lawsuits Over Stored Chat Logs" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp developers are working to bring scheduled messages to the Meta-owned platform, reports WABetaInfo.


A scheduled message allows users to type a message and choose a specific date and time for it to be sent automatically. Telegram already has the feature, while Apple has offered a similar Send Later option in its Messages app since iOS 18.

While the feature is yet to be functioning in the latest WhatsApp beta on TestFlight, WABetaInfo shared an image showing a new Scheduled Messages option in a group chat info page. From here, users will apparently be able to view the number of messages they have scheduled and access options to manage them. The feature is expected to work for both individual chats and groups.

The ability to schedule messages is one of the app's most requested features, so this should come as welcome news to users. Currently, the only way to schedule a WhatsApp message is to use a shortcut workaround in Apple's Shortcuts app.
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WhatsApp announced three new group chat features today, expanding how users can interact and add context to their role within conversations involving many participants.


The Meta-owned messaging app is rolling out Member Tags, Text Stickers, and Event Reminders, all of which are designed to give group chats more flexibility and organization.

Member Tags let you assign yourself different roles in different group chats for more context – so you can be "Coach" in one thread and "Dad" in another, for example. Meanwhile, Text Stickers instantly turn typed words into sticker graphics that users can then save to custom packs.

Lastly, with Event Reminders, now when you create and send an event in your group chat you can set custom early reminders for your invitees. Meta says that "this helps everyone remember to commute to the party you're hosting or hop on the call at the right time."

The new group chat features are available to WhatsApp users worldwide, and follow other recent upgrades to the chat platform, including third-party chat support in the EU and WhatsApp for Apple Watch.
This article, "WhatsApp Enhances Group Chats With Three New Features" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp is testing a new feature that allows iPhone users to manage two separate accounts within the same app, according to WABetaInfo.


As found in the latest TestFlight beta on iOS, the feature introduces a new "Account List" section in the settings menu, where users can add a second account without needing to go near WhatsApp Business or attempt any sort of workaround.

The beta currently supports up to two accounts, which can be newly created numbers, existing accounts from WhatsApp Business or other devices, or companion accounts linked via QR code scanning. Each account maintains separate chat histories, backup configurations, notification settings, and privacy preferences.

To switch between accounts, users can access the Account List section, press and hold the Settings tab for quick selection, or double-tap the Settings tab to automatically switch to the next account. When notifications arrive, WhatsApp displays both the sender's name and which account received the message to avoid confusion.


The feature is compatible with App Lock, which requires Face ID, Touch ID, or a device passcode when switching to protected accounts. WhatsApp hasn't said when the multiple accounts feature will go live for the general public, but the testing stage suggests we won't have to wait too long.
This article, "WhatsApp Tests Multiple Account Support in iPhone Beta" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp this week announced that it is adding passkey-encrypted chat backups, allowing users to protect their stored messages using Touch ID or Face ID instead of a 64-digit key.


The feature extends the app's 2021 end-to-end encrypted backup system, which previously required users to create and save a lengthy key to restore chats. With passkeys, authentication uses each device's built-in authentication hardware like ‌Touch ID‌ or ‌Face ID‌, meaning the private cryptographic key never leaves the phone. This makes backups both more secure and much easier to restore.

The rollout is set to be global and gradual over the coming weeks. Users can enable it via Settings → Chats → Chat backup → End-to-end encrypted backup once available. iCloud and Google Drive remain the storage destinations for iOS and Android, respectively. The move continues Meta's broader adoption of passkeys, which WhatsApp first supported for account logins in 2023.
This article, "WhatsApp to Add Support for Passkey-Encrypted Backups" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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WhatsApp today provided its TestFlight users with a new Apple Watch app for testing purposes, which means a version of WhatsApp for the wrist could be coming soon.


The app supports reading WhatsApp messages, sending replies, sending message reactions, sharing voice messages, and more, without the need to open the app on another device.

A connected iPhone with the WhatsApp app installed is required to use the Apple Watch app, and it is only available to beta testers at this time.

WhatsApp has not previously offered an Apple Watch app. There's no word on when a public launch might happen.
This article, "WhatsApp Testing Apple Watch App" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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