For years, the most common workaround on WhatsApp has been a sticky note, a phone alarm, or a half-written birthday message sitting in the text box until midnight. Telegram users have been able to schedule messages since 2019. iPhone owners got it in iMessage in 2024. WhatsApp, with more users than either, has held out.
That is finally changing, at least for some people. WhatsApp has started rolling out native message scheduling to a limited group of Android beta testers, according to WABetaInfo, which tracks the app’s test builds. The feature lets you write a message now and have it delivered later, anywhere from ten minutes to two weeks out, and it reportedly sends even if your phone is offline at the time.
That last detail is the most interesting part, and it raises a question WhatsApp has not answered yet.
The short version
- Who gets it: some Android users on WhatsApp beta 2.26.40.7 from the Google Play beta program
- How it works: type a message, then press and hold Send to pick a date and time
- The window: as soon as 10 minutes from now, as late as two weeks ahead
- What you can schedule: text, links, photos and videos, one media item at a time
- Where: individual chats and group chats
- Stable release: no date yet, and no word on iPhone
How to schedule a message on WhatsApp
If you have the feature, the flow is short. Write your message as normal. Instead of tapping Send, press and hold it. A sheet slides up from the bottom of the screen where you pick the delivery date and time. Confirm, and the message is queued instead of sent.
Photos and videos work the same way. Pick an item from the gallery inside a chat, then press and hold Send. You can also schedule from the drawing editor, so you can add a caption or mark up a photo before choosing when it goes out. The limit for now is one item per scheduled message. If you want to schedule an album, you will be doing it one photo at a time.
Everything you have queued shows up in a new section inside the chat info screen. From there you can see what is pending and delete anything you no longer want to send. According to WABetaInfo, the recipient is never told when you delete a scheduled message, and they cannot see that one was ever scheduled.
The window: 10 minutes to 14 days
The limits are tighter than some rivals but sensible. The earliest you can schedule is ten minutes from now, which gives you a buffer to catch a typo or change your mind. The latest is two weeks out. That covers the obvious uses: a birthday message at midnight, a reminder the morning of a meeting, a note to a friend in a time zone where it is currently 3 a.m.
| App | Native scheduling | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Since 2019 | Long the go-to example WhatsApp users pointed to |
| Google Messages | Since 2020 | Scheduled send built into the default Android texting app |
| iMessage | Since iOS 18 (2024) | Send Later, up to 14 days ahead |
| Android beta, 2026 | 10 minutes to two weeks, works in groups, sends while offline |
Until now, WhatsApp users who wanted this had two bad options. They could set a reminder and send manually, or they could install a third-party automation app and hand it accessibility permissions so it could tap Send on their behalf. That second route is exactly the kind of thing security people warn against, since an app with those permissions can read everything on your screen.
The group chat rule you should know about
Scheduling works in groups, with one detail that will catch people out. A scheduled message only goes to the people who were in the group when you scheduled it. If someone joins after you queue the message, they will not get it.
WhatsApp’s apparent reasoning is that the message should reach the audience you wrote it for, and that someone who joins later should not see something that was not meant for them. That is fair, but it has practical consequences. If you schedule an event reminder for a group that is still filling up, the late joiners will miss it. For anything important, check the member list before you queue it, or schedule it close to the delivery time.
How does it send when your phone is offline?
This is the part worth thinking about. WABetaInfo says scheduled messages are delivered at the chosen time even if your device is offline or WhatsApp is closed. It also says the feature is compatible with end-to-end encryption.
Those two claims fit together in only a few ways. WhatsApp’s servers cannot read your messages, so they cannot compose or encrypt anything for you at 9 a.m. next Tuesday. If your phone is off at that moment, the encrypted message has to already exist somewhere other than your phone.
The most plausible design, and to be clear this is our reading rather than anything WhatsApp has said, is that your phone encrypts the message at the moment you schedule it, uploads the sealed copy, and the server simply holds it until the delivery time. That would square neatly with the group rule. A message encrypted for the twelve people in a group today has no way of being opened by a thirteenth person who joins tomorrow.
It would also mean that deleting a scheduled message has to reach the server before the delivery time, so a delete made while your phone is offline may not land in time. If WhatsApp publishes a technical note when the feature goes stable, this is the section to read.
Part of a busy stretch for WhatsApp
Scheduling lands alongside a run of account security changes. WhatsApp has been pushing passkeys hard, saying more than a billion people have set one up and that you can now register more than one if you use both Android and iOS. You will find them under Settings, then Account, then Passkeys. That follows the company’s move to replace the old six-digit two-step PIN with a full password earlier this year.
Not every recent WhatsApp story has been good news. A few weeks ago we reported on a flaw that let a WhatsApp call open photos on a locked Android phone. A scheduling feature that queues content on a server is exactly the kind of thing worth watching as it moves from beta to everyone.
Want it now? You need the Android beta, which you can join from WhatsApp’s listing in the Google Play Store if spots are open. Even then, installing version 2.26.40.7 does not guarantee access, because WhatsApp is enabling the feature account by account. Beta builds can also be buggy, so think twice before switching the phone you depend on.
When will everyone get it?
WhatsApp has not given a date. The feature was first spotted in development back in February, in beta 2.26.8.11, when it was not yet usable. Eight months later it is in the hands of a limited set of testers, and WABetaInfo expects it to reach more accounts over the coming weeks. There is no public sign yet of an iPhone version, though WhatsApp typically brings major features to both platforms eventually.
The bottom line
Message scheduling is not a new idea, and WhatsApp is late to it. But the version in testing is thoughtful. The ten-minute minimum, the two-week ceiling, the private delete and the group membership rule all suggest WhatsApp spent its long development time on the edge cases. The offline delivery is the genuinely clever part, and also the part that deserves a proper explanation once it ships. For now, if you are on the Android beta, try holding the Send button. You might find it is finally there.
Sources and further reading
- UNILAD Tech: New WhatsApp feature users have been waiting for is finally arriving
- WABetaInfo: WhatsApp is rolling out scheduled messages on Android beta
- Techgenyz: WhatsApp scheduled messages are live on Android beta
- Dataconomy: WhatsApp tests message scheduling in Android beta
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