WhatsApp 2026 Features: Better Apple Watch Integration And Smarter Storage Controls Revealed

Early information has emerged about new features expected to go live on WhatsApp in 2026, based on reports from WABetaInfo. The updates relate mainly to security, transparency, and storage management, aiming at granting users much more control over their accounts and data.

One of the more significant updates would be tighter integration with the Apple Watch. WhatsApp is said to be working on a new section called “Peripherals,” housed under the “Linked Devices” section. This will enable users to see if their account can be accessed from an Apple Watch. By giving users insight into where and how their account is accessed, this will improve transparency and allow you to better manage the devices linked to your account.

The new category will show which peripherals have accessed the user’s WhatsApp account, as well as the date and time of the last recorded activity for each device. This information would be very useful in situations where account access is a concern. But at this point in the feature’s testing, there isn’t a way to unpair or remove these peripherals directly from this section.

Apart from device transparency, WhatsApp is testing enhancements about storage management through its iOS beta; the app is going to provide more granular options for cleaning up storage within individual conversations. These tools would allow users to delete selected messages or specific categories of media files instead of the current blanket option of clearing chats.

The main advantage of this feature is that it reduces storage usage to a great extent, saving messages marked as favorites. This update has been made for heavy WhatsApp users who, over time, have huge amounts of media and look for ways to free up space on their smartphones more efficiently.

On the other hand, there is currently no information regarding when these will be available in WhatsApp’s stable version. Furthermore, it is unknown if the iOS features under test will be available on Android smartphones.

Filed in Cellphones. Read more about Instant Messaging, Social Media and Whatsapp.