You can now let WhatsApp work when you’ve missed a flurry of messages. The app has started rolling out a new feature that uses Meta AI to summarise unread private chats, making it easier to catch up without scrolling through everything yourself.
When you open a chat with unread messages, you’ll notice a new button that lets you view a summary instead of each message. WhatsApp will then use Meta’s artificial intelligence to create a brief, bulleted rundown of what you’ve missed. This update is now available in English for users in the United States, with plans to expand it to more languages and countries later this year.
How the feature works and what you can control
Meta says these summaries are entirely optional and are turned off by default. You’ll need to activate the feature manually if you want to use it. And if you’re in a group chat, you can use WhatsApp’s “Advanced Privacy” settings to stop others from using AI-generated summaries for messages you send.
Meta claims your messages remain private, thanks to its “Private Processing” system. According to the company, this system ensures that neither Meta nor any third parties can read your messages—even when AI is being used to analyse them. It does this by processing the data in a secure cloud environment that hides your interactions. In addition, the summaries aren’t visible to anyone else in the chat.
Still, there’s no word on how accurate these summaries will be. Meta hasn’t explained how it will handle potential misunderstandings or errors, something that’s already been seen with Apple’s recent attempts to introduce similar AI features.
Ongoing AI expansion causes frustration for some users
This isn’t the first time WhatsApp has added AI tools. Over the past year, Meta has introduced several features powered by its AI system. You can now ask questions directly to Meta AI from within any chat, and there’s even a function that creates images in real-time based on your prompts.
However, not everyone has welcomed these changes. Some users are unhappy with the addition of the Meta AI button, which sits permanently in the bottom-right corner of the app and can’t be turned off. The move has led to complaints from people who prefer a cleaner, simpler interface.
Meta also caused a stir with its recent decision to start displaying ads within WhatsApp—a significant shift from the app’s creators’ original vision, who had promised to keep the service ad-free.
Despite the criticism, Meta seems keen to continue building AI into every corner of WhatsApp. Whether these tools become helpful or just another source of annoyance may depend on how smoothly they work—and how much control you feel over them.
