What we know so far
WhatsApp Plus South Africa is now live at R28.99 a month, and South Africans who took the free first month when it launched in mid-June are reaching the point where the charge begins.
Meta Platforms launched the optional subscription for South African users in June 2026. Core messaging, voice calls and video calls remain free.
The subscription does not change how WhatsApp works. It adds six customisation and organisation features.
A payment method must be added upfront to activate the free month, and the subscription renews automatically each month until it is cancelled.
Separately, WhatsApp opened username reservations on Monday, 29 June 2026. That feature will eventually let users be contacted without exposing their phone number.
Reservations reached South African users on 29 June. The username feature itself has not launched in South Africa and remains in a phased global rollout.
These are the two substantive changes behind the recent wave of coverage. Neither is a new announcement this week. Both are still working through to South African users now.
What WhatsApp Plus South Africa costs each month
At R28.99 a month, the subscription works out to R347.88 over a year if it is never cancelled.
Meta has priced the local tier below the United States equivalent, which costs $2.99 a month, roughly R49 at current rates. The in-app screen indicates the local price may include taxes.
WhatsApp describes it as “an optional subscription that gives you even more ways to make WhatsApp yours”.
The practical point for households watching monthly debit orders is the auto-renewal. The first month is free, but the payment method is captured at sign-up and billing continues until the subscriber cancels.
To manage it, iPhone users tap the profile icon and open the Subscriptions section under Settings. On Android, the option sits under Settings via the three-dot menu on the home screen.
Meta announced the global rollout of Plus subscriptions across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram on 27 May 2026, with head of product Naomi Gleit unveiling the plans. Testing began in April 2026.
The company has said it does not intend to charge for private messaging or other core WhatsApp features.
Key details and figures
The six features included in WhatsApp Plus at launch:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Custom app icons and themes | New colour options for messages, icons and backgrounds |
| Custom chat lists | Separate alerts, ringtones and themes per list |
| Extended pinned chats | Pin up to 20 chats, against three on the free version |
| Exclusive sticker packs | Sticker sets with full-screen animated effects |
| Premium ringtones | Additional notification and call tones |
| Profile customisation | Additional personalisation options |
On usernames, WhatsApp said in its 29 June blog post that the feature is designed so that people need to know a user’s exact handle to make first contact.
There is no browseable directory and no suggestions. WhatsApp also built an optional username key that others need in order to send a first message.
Usernames run from three to 35 characters and are reserved through Settings, then Account, then Username, after updating to the latest version of the app.
WhatsApp said usernames “are our latest step to make WhatsApp even more private”.
A phone number will still be required to register and to use the app on a mobile device. Usernames do not replace the number.
The scale of the local audience gives the changes weight. Research firm Yazi estimates 29 million WhatsApp users in South Africa, placing the country third in Africa behind Egypt on 59 million and Nigeria on 51 million.
Yazi’s data for the first half of 2026 puts WhatsApp’s reach among South African internet users at 96%, with use by 93.8% of people holding active social media accounts. It calculates that the average South African user spends about 23 hours and 42 minutes a month in the app.
What happens next
WhatsApp says the username feature will roll out gradually over the coming months, country by country, and that users will receive an in-app notification when it becomes available where they live.
No launch date has been announced for South Africa. Reserving a handle now does not activate the feature.
One development South African users should weigh before reserving is what happened in India. In early July 2026, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a legal notice ordering WhatsApp to suspend the username feature for Indian users.
The ministry argued that allowing contact without a visible phone number could “materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing” and related impersonation attacks, according to reporting by Forbes citing the notice.
WhatsApp’s stated safeguards are the absence of a directory, the optional username key, limits on how many new people an account can contact, and abuse-pattern detection.
No South African regulator has raised a comparable objection, and no local action has been announced. The tension between privacy and scam risk is unresolved on the public record.
Meta is separately testing Meta AI subscriptions branded Meta One Plus and Meta One Premium. Those are not available in South Africa.
Multi-account support has now been extended to the WhatsApp Business app, allowing two accounts on one device, with an option to switch between them from the Chats tab.
For most South African users the immediate decisions are narrow. Check whether a WhatsApp Plus free month is about to convert to a monthly charge, and decide whether to reserve a username before the feature reaches the country.
