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WhatsApp Rolling Out Guest Chats for Temporary Conversations With Non WhatsApp Users in Beta: Report

WhatsApp Rolling Out Guest Chats for Temporary Conversations With Non-WhatsApp Users in Beta: Report

Guest Chats are said to be a temporary messaging solution and therefore support only a limited set of features.

Written by Shaurya Tomer, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 16 March 2026 12:44 IST

WhatsApp Rolling Out Guest Chats for Temporary Conversations With Non-WhatsApp Users in Beta: Report

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Anton

The feature was first reported to be in development in October 2025

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Highlights

Guest chats enable basic messaging functionality with non-WhatsApp users
The feature is said to be rolling out to Android, iOS beta app users
Such conversations expire automatically after 10 days of inactivity

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that enables users to send messages to those people who do not have a WhatsApp account, according to a feature tracker. The feature, dubbed Guest Chats, allows non-WhatsApp users to join the chat via a secure web link, eliminating the need to specifically create a WhatsApp account. Such chats are said to leverage a unique identifier for creating an encryption key, enabling the same end-to-end encryption that the platform applies to normal conversations.

How WhatsApp's Guest Chats Feature Might Work

According to a report by feature tracker WABetaInfo, several Android and iOS users can access the Guest Chat feature. It is available with the latest WhatsApp Beta update for the respective operating systems. As the name suggests, the platform can generate a temporary guest session that enables basic messaging functionality, instead of requiring the recipient to create a full account.

The in-development Guest Chats feature on WhatsApp
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

With Guest Chats, guest participants can join a chat through a shared link or invitation. Once they enter the conversation, they can send and receive messages within that chat without needing to sign up for WhatsApp. Chats with such users will have a Guest label, enabling easy identification that the participant does not have a registered account.

As per WABetaInfo, users can create the link from the Invite a friend section or from the bottom of the contacts list within the app. Once generated, the link can be sent via SMS. It can also be copied and shared through other platforms such as email or different messaging apps. They can open the link on either a mobile device or a desktop browser.

The feature tracker mentioned that guest chats are a temporary messaging solution and therefore support only a limited set of features. For example, such conversations do not support group conversations, media sharing, or attachments like photos, videos, documents, GIFs, stickers, and voice messages. Apart from this, voice and video calls aren't available, either.

Guests can be blocked in the same way as regular WhatsApp accounts, as per WABetaInfo. Guest chats reportedly maintain the platform's end-to-end encryption protections. The feature tracker said that when a guest joins the conversation, WhatsApp Web generates a unique identifier that is used to create the encryption key for that chat.

According to WABetaInfo, Guest chats also expire automatically after 10 days of inactivity. If the conversation expires, the inviter will need to generate a new invite link to continue messaging with the same person.

The feature was first revealed to be in development in October 2025. At the time, however, it was not available even to beta testers of the app. The feature tracker claims that select Android and iOS WhatsApp Beta users now have access to it. It is still said to be in development and could be publicly available with a future version of the app.

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Further reading: WhatsApp, WhatsApp Beta, WhatsApp for iOS, WhatsApp for Android, WhatsApp Update

Shaurya Tomer

Email Shaurya Tomer

Shaurya Tomer is a Sub Editor at Gadgets 360 with 2 years of experience across a diverse spectrum of topics. With a particular focus on smartphones, gadgets and the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), he often likes to explore the industry's intricacies and innovations – whether dissecting the latest smartphone release or exploring the ethical implications of AI advancements. In his free time, he often embarks on impromptu road trips to unwind, recharge, and ...More