WhatsApp’s beta release for iPhone now displays a green dot next to contacts who are online, matching the feature first seen on Android last month. The dot appears on a contact’s profile photo and vanishes the moment the person closes the app, giving users an instant visual cue about availability.

The update respects privacy settings: ifission privacy is enabled to hide online status, the dot is suppressed; users are only shown online while the app remains open. Initially, the indicator is hidden from the main chat list and only visible in contact info, but Meta plans to launch a dedicated Contacts screen that lists active or recently active contacts.

For consumers, the green dot streamlines messaging by reducing guesswork about a contact’s readiness to chat. For the industry, it demonstrates Meta’s focus on nuanced presence indicators without compromising privacy, a pressure point for rival messaging platforms to refine their own online status features.

The addition gives users a quick visual cue for availability, nudging competitors to refine presence indicators and suggesting Meta is tightening its privacy stance within messaging.