WhatsApp tests profile pictures for group chat members beside messages
WhatsApp is testing a new way to display participants in group chats. Instead of just showing the sender’s name at the top of each message, the app may soon show the profile picture of the person who sent the message. This change aims to make conversations in groups quicker to scan and easier to follow, especially when a group includes many people who share similar or repeated names.
Today, group messages typically display the sender’s name, which is saved on the device or SIM card. If a number isn’t saved, the system shows the regional prefix, such as +34 for Spain, and the contacts in a group chat are currently distinguished by a set of random colors. The proposed update would add a small profile image next to each message, giving users a visual cue about who is speaking right away, without needing to rely solely on the name or color tag.
In conversations that include several participants, this enhancement could reduce moments of pause as readers identify the speaker. It also aligns with a broader trend in messaging apps to rely more on avatars to convey identity quickly, especially in faster chat environments where messages arrive in rapid succession.
The discovery of this display option came from a beta update observed by WABetaInfo. The update appeared in TestFlight for iOS, tied to a version designated as 22.18.0.72. Beta testers can encounter such experimental layouts before they become available to the wider user base, allowing engineers to assess usability and performance in real world scenarios.
The feature is described as existing in a preview stage where the presence of profile pictures is still part of ongoing development. It is reported as being enabled by default for all participants in a group chat, and control to disable it does not appear to be available in the current preview. This means users would see profile pictures by default while the option to turn this off may not be exposed in the early versions.
As with many testing programs, it remains uncertain when or if WhatsApp will officially roll out this change to all users. There is also no confirmed information about support for Android devices at this time. Observers should expect updates to messaging layouts to evolve as development continues, with potential refinements to how avatars are loaded, sized, and displayed in different screen sizes and network conditions. The ongoing work highlights WhatsApp’s focus on intuitive visual cues that help people manage conversations more efficiently in group settings and busy chat streams. This overview captures the current status of the feature as observed in beta builds and should be read as informational about upcoming changes rather than a guaranteed release schedule. Source notes indicate the initial discovery by WABetaInfo in association with the iOS TestFlight build.· Source: WABetaInfo