WhatsApp starts testing "Green Dot" to show who’s online

Meta-owned WhatsApp is rolling out a new way to spot active users. It’s testing a small Green Dot that will appear next to someone’s profile picture when they’re online.

The feature is currently in limited testing. It went to Android beta users last month, and now iPhone users on the TestFlight beta are getting it too.

WhatsApp Green Dot: How it works

If someone is on WhatsApp, a tiny green circle will show up on the corner of their profile photo. That way you’ll know right away if they’re active on the app.

For now, the dot only shows up on the Chat Info screen. That’s the page that opens when you tap a contact’s name at the top of a chat. It won’t appear in your main chat list or inside the conversation itself yet.

WhatsApp says the Green Dot will only appear if the person has allowed others to see their “Last Seen and Online” status. If you’ve hidden your online status in privacy settings, the dot won’t show up for you either.

The company plans for this dot to replace the old “Online” text label. The idea is to make it quicker and easier to tell if someone is available. As soon as a person closes WhatsApp, the green dot disappears, so it reflects real-time activity.

WhatsApp also plans to include the Green Dot in a future Contacts Hub. That would be a separate tab where you can see which of your contacts are online or were recently active. The dot will be a core part of that system.

Right now the feature is being pushed out in phases to a small group of iOS beta testers. Some App Store users may also get it on a trial basis.

WhatsApp hasn’t announced yet when the Green Dot will roll out to everyone in the stable version of the app.

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