Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: WhatsApp has ads now, but only in the Updates tab

Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2025 14:48:29 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-has-ad...

It has been a long time coming ΓÇö seven years since Meta first announced its
plan to do so, in fact ΓÇö but ads are starting to appear in WhatsApp as of
Monday. They'll only be visible on the Updates tab and the company says those
who use the app only to chat with family and friends really won't see any
change to their WhatsApp experience. The same goes for two other new
features: channel subscriptions and promoted channels. "We've been talking
about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal
chats for years and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these
new features to work," a company blog post reads.

WhatsApp users will be able to chat to a business that's using the Status tab
to advertise a product or service, according to Meta. The company says it
will use some user data for ad targeting, including your device's language,
country or city, channels you follow and how you interact with ads. If you've
added WhatsApp to Meta's Accounts Center, the company will use your ad
preferences and info from across your Meta accounts. Meta says it won't sell
or share your phone number with marketers. Nor will it tap into your chats,
calls and status for ad targeting ΓÇö those will all still have end-to-end
encryption.

The Status tab is valuable screen real estate. Meta says more than 1.5
billion people use it every day. Advertising is still by far the company's
largest stream of revenue so the only really surprising thing about Meta
starting to show ads in WhatsApp is that it took so long. After all, the
company could probably do with more ways of making enough money to underwrite
parts of the business that may take a long time to turn a profit, if they
even get to that point.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-has-ad...
tab-144829657.html?src=rss

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