WhatsApp Folder Hides Business Messages After Hours

WhatsApp is testing an “Offers & Updates” folder that automatically moves messages from large businesses out of the main chat list after a set period of up to 24 hours. The change aims to cut inbox clutter as paid business messaging helps push Meta’s other Family of Apps revenue past $1 billion in a single quarter.

TechCrunch first reported the exclusive details on July 31. Selected partners on the WhatsApp Business Platform already see the behavior in limited tests. Users keep a simple on-off switch.

How the Offers Folder Works

When a qualifying large-business message arrives, it stays visible in the main timeline for a test window. WhatsApp is trying different cutoffs, the longest being 24 hours. After that the chat drops into the dedicated Offers & Updates folder.

The folder gathers promotional offers, delivery notices, bank alerts and routine updates in one place. Users can open it later when they want those items. They cannot set their own move timer; the company controls the duration during the test.

• Applies only to larger businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform for now
• Small businesses and individual WhatsApp Business accounts stay in the main list
• Full user toggle lets anyone keep every chat on the primary timeline
• Messages remain searchable and accessible inside the new folder

Meta framed the design as a way to keep the main list focused on personal and group chats while still letting people find business content when needed.

The Billion-Dollar Timing Behind the Test

The folder arrives right after Meta’s Q2 2026 results. On the earnings call, CFO Susan Li noted that quarterly Family of Apps other revenue reached $1 billion for the first time and grew 73 percent year-over-year. The driver was primarily WhatsApp paid messaging and subscriptions.

Mark Zuckerberg highlighted broader WhatsApp milestones, including a peak of 30 million messages per second during the World Cup final and the arrival of new WhatsApp leadership. Family daily active people sat at 3.60 billion. The same growth that produced the revenue also filled inboxes.

Businesses pay on a delivered-message basis. Categories include marketing, utility, authentication and service, with rates that vary by market. Service messages and certain replies stay free, while marketing carries higher cost. That per-message pricing by category and market structure rewards volume, which is exactly what users notice as noise.

Stats snapshot

• $1.007 billion, Family of Apps other revenue in Q2 2026
• 73%, year-over-year growth in that line
• Up to 24 hours, longest auto-move window under test
• 3.60 billion, Family daily active people in June 2026

The official results page confirms other revenue crossed $1 billion and ties the jump to WhatsApp.

Large Businesses Lose the Front Row

Banks, airlines and major retailers that already pay for high-volume templates now risk losing immediate visibility. A discount code or boarding pass that once sat at the top of the chat list can vanish into the folder after a few hours. Open rates and reply speed matter for conversion; a buried chat changes that math.

Meta told TechCrunch the folder still makes the messages easier to find later. For senders, “easier later” is not the same as “seen right away.” The test starts only with selected partners, so the company can measure whether engagement holds or drops before any wider rollout.

Small businesses and solo WhatsApp Business accounts stay exempt. Their chats remain in the main list. That carve-out protects local shops and freelancers who rely on quick personal-feeling replies. Meta said it may expand the folder to more accounts later if the data supports it.

The table makes the split clear: scale brings the folder, and the user still holds the master switch.

Earlier Moves Against Business Message Floods

WhatsApp has tightened the spigot several times already. The new folder continues that sequence rather than starting from zero.

1. 2024, Users gained the ability to unsubscribe from marketing messages from brands.
2. 2025, Limits arrived on the number of broadcast messages businesses and individuals could send in a given window.
3. October 2025, Further caps restricted how many messages a business could send without a user response; that rule is still being refined.
4. June 2026, AI business agents rolled out globally; more than 1 million businesses were already using them by the earnings period.

Even after those steps, the main inbox can still feel crowded. TechCrunch’s Ivan Mehta described clearing unread messages in the morning only to finish the day with 30-40 new ones, more than half from businesses. On X, users have long described blocking spammy business accounts or treating the chat list as a mix of friends and noise. The folder formalizes a separation many people already try to create by hand.

Users Keep the Final Say

Anyone who wants every conversation on the main timeline can disable the feature. Once off, business messages stay put. WhatsApp stressed that the folder is optional and that the goal is reduced clutter plus easier later retrieval of offers and updates.

The company is not handing users granular filters yet (no per-sender rules or custom timers in the current test). The binary switch is the control surface. That keeps the experience simple while the experiment runs.

AI agents add another layer. Zuckerberg pointed to Brazil’s Movida car-rental company seeing better conversions and support handling through agents. More automated sales and support traffic is coming. A folder that automatically files routine business volume becomes more useful as those agents scale. The same Meta infrastructure that powers agents also powers the rest of the family of apps, including recent model work such as Meta’s Muse Spark AI model push.

What the Test Still Leaves Undecided

Several practical questions remain open while the limited partner test continues. Will the move window settle at 6 hours, 12 hours or the full 24? Will quality scores or message category (marketing versus utility) eventually influence whether a chat gets filed? How will the folder appear on multi-device accounts and WhatsApp Web?

The WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API already supports rich templates, interactive messages, calling and the newer Marketing Messages API with delivery optimizations. Those tools give businesses more ways to reach people; the folder gives people a quieter default home for the results.

Meta has said it will expand based on observations. Small-business inclusion is possible later. Until then the split protects the highest-volume senders from sudden change while letting Meta measure real user behavior with the folder on.

For now the experiment is live with a narrow set of partners. Personal chats keep their place at the top of the list. Business volume that once competed for the same attention gets a secondary home after a few hours. Users who dislike the sort can turn it off in one step. The paid-messaging engine that just crossed a billion-dollar quarterly mark keeps running; it simply has to live with a cleaner main stage.