WhatsApp Is Testing an Offers & Updates Folder for Business Messages

Meta confirmed the test to TechCrunch on Friday: large-business messages auto-file to a separate folder after up to 24 hours, you can turn it off but can't pick the timing, and only select partners are in it for now. iOS 27 beta 5 is still on track for Monday.

What WhatsApp is changing

WhatsApp is testing a new "Offers & Updates" folder that automatically moves messages from large businesses out of your main chat list, TechCrunch reported exclusively on Friday. The point is to stop bank alerts, airline notices, delivery updates, and discount codes from drowning out your personal and group chats.

Here is how it works. When a message arrives from a large business, it stays in your main chat list for a set period, then WhatsApp moves it to the Offers & Updates folder. Meta said it is testing different delays, up to 24 hours. You can turn the whole thing off in settings if you want business chats to stay on your main timeline, but you cannot choose your own move delay. It is WhatsApp's timing or off.

The test is narrow for now. It applies only to messages from large businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform (think banks, airlines, big retailers), and only with select partners. Small businesses and individual Business accounts are exempt, though WhatsApp said it may fold them in later. So most people will not see the folder yet. ProPakistani confirmed the same details on Saturday.

The timing is not accidental. On Meta's Q2 2026 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said "other revenue" in the family of apps crossed $1 billion, driven largely by WhatsApp paid messaging and subscriptions. WhatsApp also opened its AI business agents globally in June, and more than a million businesses already use them. More business messaging means more inbox clutter, and this folder is the first structural attempt to keep it from swallowing personal chats. Ivan Mehta, who broke the story at TechCrunch, noted that more than half of his own unread messages were business communications, a problem anyone who banks, flies, or shops through WhatsApp will recognize.

The honest read: this is a test, not a rollout, and you cannot opt in. When it reaches you, what changes is where your bank and airline messages live, not whether you receive them. If the auto-move timing feels wrong, the off switch is the only lever you have.

iOS: nothing new, beta 5 due Monday

There is no new iOS build to report. Apple's developer releases page still lists iOS 26.6, build 23G71 from July 27, as the latest public release and iOS 27 beta 4, build 24A5390f from July 20, as the latest beta. iOS 26.6 is finished and was covered in full last week: 87 security fixes, the Spotlight pre-index that prepares your phone for iOS 27, and the anti-snatch and Malicious Message Detected features that stayed in code rather than shipping.

iOS 27 developer beta 5 is expected on or around Monday, August 3, two weeks after beta 4 and matching Apple's cadence this cycle (Geeky Gadgets, GeeksChalk). After beta 5, Apple typically shifts to weekly drops, with a release candidate around early September and the public launch mid-September alongside the new iPhones. Public beta testers still on PB2 from July 22 should see PB3, the same code as beta 5, within a few days of the developer drop. Nothing to change today.