WhatsApp Begins Testing Message Scheduling Feature on iPhone

WhatsApp, owned by Meta, has finally begun testing the long-awaited message scheduling feature with a select group of beta users on the iPhone platform. The app reportedly has over 3 billion active users worldwide monthly, yet it still lacks some features available on competing platforms, most notably message scheduling. Earlier this year, code hints in the beta version revealed that the company was working on this feature, though it was not available for testing at that time. Currently, the message scheduling feature is rolling out to a select group of iOS beta testers, following its initial appearance in the Android beta less than two weeks ago. The feature allows users to schedule a message directly within the chat interface by long-pressing the send button after typing, which opens a screen to select the date and time. Users can schedule messages from a minimum of 10 minutes up to a maximum of two weeks ahead, with confirmation shown only to the user who scheduled the message. Scheduled messages appear in a dedicated section within chat info, and in group chats, messages are delivered only to members present at the time of scheduling, excluding new members who join later. The feature supports sending various content types including images, videos, and links, though currently, multiple images or videos cannot be scheduled simultaneously and must be scheduled individually. At present, the feature is limited to selected testers and cannot be manually enabled, with no official release date announced; however, broader availability on both iOS and Android is expected soon.