Meta-owned social platform may be preparing to take its biggest step yet into digital payments, with a new in-app Payments section reportedly under development that could allow users to send money directly to their contacts. The feature, discovered in WhatsApp iOS beta version 26.33.10.70, remains in the early development phase and is not currently available to beta testers. There is also no confirmed launch date, country rollout, or official announcement from WhatsApp or Meta.
The emerging Payments interface suggests WhatsApp wants to make financial transactions part of the everyday messaging experience. According to the beta findings, users could eventually select a contact, enter an amount and send money without leaving WhatsApp.
The planned system also appears capable of storing payment and personal information, including Credit and debit card details, Card expiry date and CVV, Full name and billing address, City, state or province and postal code, Country, Email address and phone number, and Shipping address.
WhatsApp is also reportedly preparing controls allowing users to download their saved payment information or permanently delete it. The combination of contact payments and stored payment methods suggests the company could be building a much broader financial ecosystem inside the app, potentially covering peer-to-peer transfers and business payments.
One of the more intriguing clues comes from the country selector in the billing-address section. The developing interface reportedly includes the Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Spain and the US. That does not mean WhatsApp is preparing to launch payments in all nine countries.
Instead, the list may indicate that WhatsApp is designing its payment infrastructure to handle users and billing information from a wider range of international markets.
The company is not entering the payments business from scratch. WhatsApp already supports payment services in selected markets through local systems and financial partners. India uses UPI for peer-to-peer and business payments, while Brazil supports peer-to-peer transfers through PIX.
In Singapore, WhatsApp has partnered with Stripe and uses PayNow. In Mexico, registered businesses can accept payments through WhatsApp chats, although the functionality is more limited than the consumer payment systems available in India and Brazil.
Expanding these services globally, however, is far more complicated than simply activating a new app feature. WhatsApp would need to meet local financial regulations, compliance requirements, banking partnerships and payment-infrastructure rules in each market.
The payments development comes after Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech company CRED, took over as WhatsApp’s new head, succeeding Will Cathcart. Shah’s background in fintech and digital payments has intensified speculation over WhatsApp’s ambitions in the financial-services space, particularly in India and potentially across international markets. But his appointment does not confirm any specific payments expansion or launch schedule.
For now, WhatsApp users can only send money through the platform in markets where its payment service is officially supported and enabled. The newly discovered Payments section could represent a significant expansion of that strategy, potentially transforming WhatsApp from a messaging platform into a place where users can chat, store payment details and send money from the same app.
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