WhatsApp Beta Meta AI Update Features: AI Chats and 9:16 Photos

The latest WhatsApp beta Meta AI update features arrived between October 31 and November 5, 2026. Testers now get separate Meta AI chats, an AI tool that stretches photos to 9:16, and cover photos you can make with Meta AI. None of them has a public release date yet.

WABetaInfo tracks every WhatsApp test build, and it spotted all three changes. Here is what each one does, on which platform, and when it showed up.

All of them roll out gradually. As a result, installing the newest beta does not guarantee you will see them.

Above all, the biggest change is how you talk to the assistant. Until now, Meta AI “threads” lived in a side panel inside one Meta AI conversation. Switching between them took several taps.

Now, however, each topic becomes its own chat. According to WABetaInfo’s report on Meta AI chats, you open the overflow menu, type a name, and the new chat appears in the Chats tab.

Beyond that, you can give it a custom profile photo. A small chatbot logo marks it as AI, so it never looks like a real contact.

In addition, an AI filter shows only your Meta AI chats. You can delete any of them at any time.

The second tool targets photos that do not fit a phone screen. In WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.44.8, a new Expand option sits in the drawing editor, under the Edit section.

Meta AI then generates new content around the edges in a few seconds. It does not stretch the original. Instead, the added area is meant to blend with the scene, WABetaInfo explains.

You can accept the result or ask for a different version. Also, the tool works for chats and status updates, although some testers see it in only one of them.

However, there is one limit. If a photo is already 9:16, the option stays hidden, so a square 1:1 picture is the easiest way to try it.

Likewise, iPhone testers are not far behind. WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.44.10.16 on TestFlight adds the same expansion, listed among the AI effects in the drawing editor.

Importantly, WhatsApp never sends the expanded photo on its own. It appears in the editor first, and you can undo it to restore the original, WABetaInfo reports.

Meanwhile, some App Store users already have the feature. That is unusual for a tool still in beta.

Finally, results depend on the photo. Clear details near the borders give Meta AI more to work with.

In contrast, the third addition is cosmetic. A landscape cover photo now sits at the top of your profile, next to your profile picture, in iOS beta 26.43.10.70.

First, you can pick a photo from your camera or gallery. Alternatively, you can create one with Meta AI if you want something more creative, according to WABetaInfo.

As for privacy, it works like the profile photo. Your cover can be visible to everyone, to your contacts, to contacts with exceptions, or to nobody.

For now, only some beta testers do. On Android, the builds come through the Google Play beta program. On iPhone, they arrive through TestFlight.

Even then, access is staged. PhoneWorld notes that installing the update does not mean you get the photo tool, because WhatsApp enables it account by account.

WABetaInfo expects all three features to reach more accounts “over the coming weeks.” However, WhatsApp has not announced a date for everyone.

Taken together, these changes push Meta AI deeper into the app. It is no longer one chat you can scroll past. Instead, it shows up in your chat list, your photo editor and your profile.

If you are a tester, try the expansion on a square photo and check the edges before you send it. AI outpainting can invent details that were never in the scene.

Similarly, if you use the new AI chats, name them clearly. As a result, they stay apart from real people at a glance.

Our own coverage shows why care matters. Meta’s assistant has grown into an agent called Muse, and agents can still get facts wrong.

If the 9:16 trick caught your eye, compare dedicated tools in our guide to the best AI image generator from text. And for a reminder of what can go wrong, read about the Meta Muse hallucination that Meta called a bug.

Sources

WABetaInfo, chats powered by Meta AI on Android (November 4, 2026), WABetaInfo, AI photo expansion on Android (November 5, 2026), WABetaInfo, image expansion on iOS (November 5, 2026), WABetaInfo, profile cover photos on iOS beta (October 31, 2026), PhoneWorld (November 5, 2026). *Photos: Whatsapp app icon on smartphone screen by Yuri Samoilov, CC BY 2.0, cropped and resized; Whatsapp texting by Helar Lukats, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and resized.*