Overview
- The staged rollout, which began between October 11 and 13, is limited to select Android beta testers running WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.40.7 and is expected to expand in the coming weeks.
- Users schedule a send by tapping and holding the send button in a chat to pick a delivery time from 10 minutes up to two weeks ahead.
- Scheduled items support text, links, photos, videos and reportedly documents, but only one photo or video can be attached per scheduled message.
- Messages are delivered automatically at the chosen time even if the app is closed or the sender’s device is offline, group-sent scheduled messages go only to members who were in the group when the message was scheduled, and deleting a scheduled message before send does not notify recipients.
- WhatsApp preserves end-to-end encryption for scheduled messages and the app shows a dedicated 'Scheduled messages' area in chat info where users can view or delete pending sends, a convenience that matches features already offered by some rival messaging apps.