In short: WhatsApp Status Ads are image, video or carousel ads that appear in Status, in the WhatsApp Updates tab. To advertise on WhatsApp Status, you create the ads in Meta Ads Manager, where the WhatsApp status placement must be used together with the Instagram Stories placement. A tap opens a WhatsApp chat with your business or sends people to your website.
Meta announced ads in Status in June 2025 and has been introducing them gradually since. They give businesses a way to reach people who are already in WhatsApp, without placing ads in their personal chats.
What are WhatsApp Status Ads?
WhatsApp Status Ads are paid image, video or carousel ads that appear in Status, in the Updates tab. This is the same tab where people view their contacts’ Status updates and browse Channels.
When someone taps the ad, they go to:
- A WhatsApp chat with your business, or
- A website of your choice.
Meta says these ads appear only in Status, which is separate from chats and calls. They do not appear inside personal chats, groups or calls.
Who can run them?
As of October 2026, Meta’s developer documentation says ads in Status are available globally, except in the EU, the UK, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Russia and North Korea. The same page says campaigns in a special ad category (finance, employment, housing, or social issues, elections or politics) cannot use Status, and pharma and healthcare ads are not delivered there. Meta’s Help Centre adds that the feature is being introduced gradually, so it may not be available in your country yet. To check, edit the placements of an ad set in Ads Manager. If you see WhatsApp status under Stories, status and reels, you have access.
Meta also notes that advertisers who used brand safety and suitability controls on Facebook, Instagram or Threads in the past 12 months are opted out of the WhatsApp status placement automatically. You can opt back in with manual placements.
What you need, according to Meta:
- For a website destination: a Facebook Page for your business.
- For a WhatsApp destination: a Facebook Page and a WhatsApp Business account, connected to the Page or to Meta Business Suite.
You do not need the WhatsApp Business API to receive messages from Status Ads. Meta accepts a WhatsApp Business account made in the WhatsApp Business app or one on the WhatsApp Business API. When someone taps the ad, a chat with your business number opens in WhatsApp. If that number is connected to Risponse (scan a QR code for a Business app number, or connect an API number), your team can reply from the shared inbox.
How to set up WhatsApp Status Ads in Meta Ads Manager
These steps follow Meta’s guide to creating ads in WhatsApp Status as of October 2026. Menu names can differ slightly by objective and as Meta updates Ads Manager.
Step 1. Create a campaign
- Open Meta Ads Manager.
- Click + Create.
- Choose an objective. Status ads support Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads and Sales. For ads that open a WhatsApp chat, you can choose Engagement or Leads (Traffic and Sales can also send people to a chat). For website visits, choose Traffic.
- Click Continue.
Step 2. Set up your ad set
- Under Conversion, choose where people go. For a chat, choose Messaging apps (it may be called Message destinations, or WhatsApp for the Leads objective) and tick WhatsApp. For a website, choose Website. If WhatsApp is greyed out, click Connect account and follow the steps.
- Under Audience, choose location, age and language. Meta says narrow targeting may lower delivery in Status.
- Under Placements, Advantage+ placements is on by default and already includes WhatsApp status. To pick placements yourself, switch to Manual placements and tick WhatsApp status under Stories, status and reels. Keep Instagram Stories ticked too, because Meta requires it for the WhatsApp status placement.
- If you see a Dynamic creative switch, turn it off. Meta says you cannot select WhatsApp status while it is on.
- Set your budget and schedule.
Step 3. Create the ad
- Under Identity, choose your Facebook Page or your WhatsApp number.
- Under Ad setup, choose Single image or video, or Carousel (2 to 10 cards) where it is offered.
- Upload your creative (see specs below) and add your ad text.
- If you chose the Awareness objective, pick the destination here: Website, or Messaging apps with WhatsApp.
- If people will land in a WhatsApp chat, open Message template, click Edit, and set a greeting and the questions people can tap to send. Click Save.
Step 4. Review and publish
Preview how the ad looks in WhatsApp Status. Check that important content is not cut off, then publish.
Ad specifications
These are Meta’s specs for the WhatsApp status placement as of October 2026, from About ads in WhatsApp Status. Check that page before you design, because Meta updates them.
| Spec | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Format | Single image, single video, or carousel (2 to 10 cards, images only for now) |
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 vertical is recommended. Meta accepts any ratio smaller than 1.91:1 |
| Resolution | 720 × 1,280 px recommended. Minimum 500 × 320 px for images, 120 × 120 px for video |
| Image file types | JPG or PNG recommended |
| Video file types | MP4, MOV or GIF |
| Maximum video length | 60 minutes. Meta notes that shorter videos are usually more engaging on mobile |
| Video captions | Not supported |
Tip: Meta suggests you review auto-generated crops before you publish, so important content is not cut off.
Targeting options
As of October 2026, Meta lists three audience options for ads in WhatsApp Status:
- Location. Country, region or town and city.
- Age. This includes people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown, unless you exclude them. Ads shown to them must suit all ages.
- Language. People’s language.
You can still use custom audiences, lookalike audiences and detailed targeting. But Meta says these may reduce or restrict delivery in Status unless you use the Advantage+ versions, and it recommends Advantage+ audience where possible.
On the WhatsApp side, Meta says it uses limited information to choose ads: a person’s country or city, language, the Channels they follow and how they interact with ads. If someone has added WhatsApp to Accounts Center, Meta also uses their ad preferences and information from their other Meta accounts. Personal messages, calls and the groups a person is in are not used to decide which ads they see.
How much do WhatsApp Status Ads cost?
Status ads are priced like other Meta ads, through an ad auction. There is no fixed rate. Meta’s auction weighs your bid, how likely people are to act on your ad, and the ad’s quality. Your cost depends on:
- Your target audience and how many other advertisers want to reach it
- Your campaign objective and bid strategy
- Ad quality and how people respond to the ad
- Location and timing, because competition changes by place and over time
Budget tip: Start with a small daily budget you are comfortable testing for the first week, then scale what works. Watch cost per conversation (not cost per click) as your main measure.
If your number uses the WhatsApp Business API, Meta’s WhatsApp pricing also applies to the messages you send in these chats, separately from your ad spend. Meta’s pricing page explains how they are billed, including the free entry point for chats that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad.
How WhatsApp Status Ads differ from other ad formats
| Format | Where it appears | Opens a chat? | Paid? |
|---|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Status Ad | Status in the Updates tab (needs the Instagram Stories placement too) | Yes, if WhatsApp is the destination | Yes |
| Click-to-WhatsApp Ad | Facebook and Instagram placements, such as feeds and Stories | Yes | Yes |
| Business Status update | Status in the Updates tab, for your contacts or an audience you choose. Disappears after 24 hours | Viewers can reply | No |
| Promoted Channel | Channels directory in the Updates tab | No | Yes, it is one of WhatsApp’s ad formats |
Click-to-WhatsApp Ads on Facebook and Instagram also open a chat with your business. They are another option if Status ads are not available to you yet.
Status Ads reach people while they are already using WhatsApp, so a chat with you is one tap away. Because Meta requires the Instagram Stories placement with WhatsApp status, the same ad set can also show your ad in Instagram Stories.
What to prepare before you run the ad
The ad gets people into a conversation. What happens next decides whether you get a sale or a dead chat.
Before launching:
- Set up the greeting in your message template. In Ads Manager, the ad’s message template lets you set a greeting and suggest questions people can tap to send. Make the greeting a question, not just a hello. “Which product are you asking about?” gives people an easy first reply.
- Connect your number to a shared inbox. If the ad works, many chats can arrive at once, and one person with one phone may not keep up. A shared inbox (like Risponse) lets the whole team answer, and an assignment rule can share out new chats automatically.
- Set up an after-hours reply. Ads can show at any time of day, so messages may arrive overnight. An after-hours reply that says when you will be back sets expectations.
- Track cost per conversation, not cost per click. A cheap click that starts a conversation you never follow up on costs more than an expensive click that turns into a sale.
Common mistakes
Sending people to a website when you want a conversation. If your goal is chats, choose WhatsApp as the destination. People who tap through to a website behave like any other web visitor. People who start a chat are talking to your team in a channel you already manage.
No follow-up plan. Someone who taps the ad and messages you at 11pm needs to hear back. An automated first reply plus a follow-up the next morning helps. Without it, the lead can go cold.
Using landscape or square creatives. Statuses are vertical, and Meta recommends 9:16 for Stories, Status and Reels so the ad fills the screen. A square or landscape image will not fill the screen, and Ads Manager may pad or crop it to fit.
Running WhatsApp Status Ads works best when your team is ready to handle the conversations they create. See plans and set up a shared inbox before you launch your first campaign.
