WhatsApp Is Rolling Out a Green Dot on iPhone to Show When Contacts Are Online
Beta users on iOS can now see a green circle on a contact's profile photo when they have WhatsApp open - the dot clears immediately when they leave the app.
WhatsApp is rolling out a green dot on iPhone that shows when contacts have the app open. WAbetainfo spotted the feature in today's iPhone beta - one month after it landed in the Android beta first. A small green circle appears in the corner of a contact's profile photo when they are active on WhatsApp. Leaving the app removes it immediately.
Finding the dot requires a tap. Right now, it only appears in the contact info view - opened by tapping the bar at the top of an existing chat. Scrolling the main chat list or reading inside a conversation shows nothing. Meta is reportedly building a dedicated Contacts screen that would surface everyone currently online or recently active in one place, which would make the feature far more visible. No launch date for that screen has been shared.
Meta built two privacy protections into the feature before wider rollout. First, WhatsApp's existing online status privacy toggle carries over directly - users who already hid their online status in settings will not show a green dot to anyone. No separate opt-out is required. Second, WhatsApp only marks someone as online while they actively have the app open, not based on recent activity. Closing WhatsApp removes the dot instantly, which is stricter than most messaging apps.
Messenger, Instagram, Discord, and Telegram all show online indicators, but most tie presence to recent activity rather than live app state - showing someone as "online" for minutes after they have closed the app. WhatsApp's binary approach gives contacts less information about your habits and is harder to misread. Presence indicators create a social pressure of their own: a green dot next to someone who has not replied implies a choice, not a missed message. WhatsApp introduced the online status privacy setting years ago in response to exactly that dynamic.
Beta features on WhatsApp reach a small initial set of users before broader rollout, so most iPhone users will not see the dot yet even on the latest beta. Meta has not confirmed a timeline for the stable iOS release.
