Meta is no stranger to the ‘cover photo’ game. For several years now, its primary and oldest social media platform, Facebook, has allowed users to don their profile with a 16:9 wide image. The cover image goes beyond a simple headshot, giving users more ways to personalize their digital profile.
Albeit not limited to Facebook, cover photo support hasn’t made its way to any other Meta-owned platform, though that could soon change.
My 5 favorite WhatsApp features that keep me in constant communication
How I take advantage of WhatsApp’s best features
Meta has been spotted working on cover photo support for WhatsApp’s profile screen, complete with relevant privacy settings to go along.
The development was spotted by the folks over at WABetaInfo in WhatsApp’s recent iOS betas. Considering that the feature is in development for iOS, it is all but certain to make its way to Android as well.
Cover photos on WhatsApp will appear as a banner at the top of user profiles, similar to what business profiles already utilize to showcase their brand. This should allow individual (non-business) accounts to add extra flair to their profiles.
Your banner, your rules
As is the case with regular profile photos, WhatsApp will give users a range of privacy settings for their cover photos.
As seen in the image above, users will find a new ‘Cover photo’ setting when they head to WhatsApp’s Settings > Privacy. Tapping on it will allow you to tinker with who can see your cover photo. Options include:
- Everyone
- Your contacts
- Contact except…
- Nobody
Everyone will literally let anyone with your phone number (and in the future, your username) see your cover photo, while the second option will limit the visibility of your cover photo to those you’ve saved in your contact list.
Similarly, you have the option to keep your image visible to your contacts, barring a few exceptions. Finally, you can set it to ‘Nobody,’ but you’d be better off just keeping the cover photo section blank.
Cover photos aren’t live just yet. A timeline for when the feature might roll out isn’t yet available either.
