WhatsApp spent the last 15 years positioning itself as the antidote to bloated instant messengers. No usernames. No status broadcasts. No profile customization. Just phone-number-based identity, end-to-end encryption, and a deliberately sparse interface. In 2026, Meta is methodically dismantling that positioning.
The shift started with usernames. WhatsApp is rolling out a username feature that lets users reserve preferred handles tied to their Meta accounts and verified through Instagram or Facebook. This is a fundamental break from the phone-number-only model that defined the service. You can now be addressed by a public, searchable identity separate from your phone number, the exact model that made MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger discoverable social spaces.
Green dots for online users are next in this list. Users will soon be able to see which one of their contacts are online, without having to manually open each chat and check whether it says ‘online’ or ‘last seen’. This feature, which respects user’s privacy settings, is basically the same as Messengers apps of old that showed which contacts were online.
In January, WhatsApp rolled out Member Tags, letting users assign themselves context-specific roles within group chats. You can be “Coach” in one group and “Dad” in another. That’s profile labeling and role-based identity, the kind of personal expression that made classic IM platforms sticky.
WhatsApp Plus, launched in April 2026 and rolled out to iOS in May, is an optional paid subscription tier offering enhanced personalization, custom themes, premium sticker packs, and other cosmetics. That’s the exact monetization path legacy IM clients followed when they realized feature creep and customization could convert engaged users into paying ones.
The interface itself is being constantly reorganized. Between chats, status updates, group chats, customization, and not to mention, forced AI, most of the Messenger era features are there now.
MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger dominated the late 1990s and 2000s precisely because they offered usernames, status displays, and profile customization. They became bloated and fragmented into incompatible third-party clients and skins. They eventually collapsed under their own feature weight and were replaced by simpler, more focused services like WhatsApp.
As a regular WhatsApp user, I can’t help but draw parallels here between the apps, specially due to the feature bloat. Perhaps the next logical feature for WhatsApp to add would be show your contacts which song you are currently listing to.
End of rant.
