WhatsApp is testing a helpful new feature on iOS that displays profile pictures in system notifications when users receive new messages from chats and groups.
First spotted by app specialist WABetaInfo, the first new feature for the platform in 2022 uses APIs in iOS 15 to add the WhatsApp profile images to notifications in top-screen banners and in the Notification Center when users receive a message.
WhatsApp on Android has been able to display the profile pictures in system notifications for some time, so this change brings parity to the app across both platforms.
If you don’t see the profile pictures in your notifications yet, that’s because WhatsApp is first making the change for beta testers so they can report bugs, before the feature is rolled out to millions of users on iOS devices worldwide.
The last update to WhatsApp came in December, and was a privacy change to prevent people on the messaging platform from viewing the “Last Seen” status of users whom they have never chatted with.
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