WhatsApp activated the scheduling function / the famous function was finally brought

WhatsApp has started testing the ability to schedule messages for a group of Android beta users.

The number of midnight birthday messages I've missed because I lost track of time or simply fell asleep is probably in the triple digits! But the new and upcoming WhatsApp update might be designed just for people like me. After several months of the first news about the development of Scheduled Messages, WhatsApp has finally started rolling out this feature to a limited number of Android beta testers. The feature has been enabled in WhatsApp Android beta version 2.26.40.7, and WABetaInfo reports that access will be extended to more testers in the coming weeks.

According to the report of the ZoomTech technology news section, citing Digital Trends, we already knew that this feature was coming. In February 2026, a report was published about the development process of scheduling messages on WhatsApp. However, this feature was not available to testers at the time, but now users can finally use it.

How does the message scheduling feature work in WhatsApp?

To schedule a message to be sent on WhatsApp, just press the Send button after typing the desired text and hold it for a few moments. Then WhatsApp will display a new user interface where you can specify the exact time to send the message. This period starts from the next 10 minutes and covers the next two weeks; So it completely covers all your needs from "reminding the group at the end of the night" to preparing birthday greetings from days in advance.

Support for media and high security of scheduled messages

WhatsApp currently supports scheduling texts, links, photos, and videos. Of course, multimedia files have a small limitation; Currently, it is only possible to send a photo or a video in each scheduled message. Scheduled content remains covered by end-to-end encryption. Even better, your phone doesn't need to be connected to the Internet when it's time to send; WhatsApp has announced that even if the application is closed or your device is offline, the message will be sent automatically.

Privacy protection; No one will know about your default schedule

Scheduled messages are placed in a dedicated section on the Chat Info page, where you can review or delete them before sending. The recipients of the message will not know that the message was pre-scheduled, and they will not receive any notification if the message is silently deleted before it is sent. The recipient does not need to have the beta version of the scheduler either.

Message timing functionality in WhatsApp group chats

This feature also works in WhatsApp group chats with an interesting privacy protection: the scheduled message will only be sent to people who were members of the group when it was set up; So people who join the group after the schedule won't get it. There is still no specific date for the release of the stable version of this feature, so most WhatsApp users will have to remember to send their messages manually for some time.