WhatsApp is testing allowing businesses to add a cover photo

Whatsapp Message Hero (Image credit: Luke Filipowicz / iMore)

What you need to know

WhatsApp is now beta testing allowing businesses to set their own cover photo.
Those running the latest WhatsApp Business beta app, and have had their account enabled, will see a new option.
Businesses will be prompted to add their new cover photo once their account is enabled.

WhatsApp is now testing a new feature that will allow its business customers to add a cover photo to their profile. There had already been reports that such a feature was in the works but this is the first time that it has been made available, albeit only to those running the latest WhatsApp Business TestFlight beta.

Even then, WABetaInfo reports that the feature change is only available to some beta testers, not all of them. By adding a new cover photo businesses will be able to make themselves more recognizable while continuing their overall branding aesthetic across multiple platforms.

Those who have the latest WhatsApp Business app and have had their account enabled will be offered a prompt to set up a new cover photo, the report notes.

Whatsapp Business Cover Photo Beta (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

After installing the new update, some beta users may receive a notice in their chats list, informing them that it is finally possible to enhance their business profile by setting up a cover photo. When the user sets up a cover photo by tapping "Tap to add now" (or within their business profile), the cover photo shows up every time other WhatsApp accounts visit the chat info of the business. At the moment, WhatsApp is releasing the ability to view and set up a cover photo only on WhatsApp Business beta for iOS, and the same feature will be rolled out to Android beta testers in the future. After testing the feature, we have also discovered that the cover photo size is 1211×681.

There is currently no telling when we can expect this particular feature to roll out to all business users, but WhatsApp is normally pretty good at making sure features progress from beta to the App Store fairly regularly.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.