WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new feature that allows users to chat with third-party AI agents directly within the messaging app, though these conversations are currently not end-to-end encrypted. According to WABetaInfo, the feature is being rolled out to a limited number of Android users in select regions through WhatsApp beta version 2.26.35.3. The feature allows users to connect external AI agents to their WhatsApp account and interact with them through separate chats without leaving the app. Users can add up to five third-party agents to their account by entering the agent's name and profile information, with WhatsApp generating an API key that must be entered on the platform hosting the agent to complete the connection. Once established, third-party agents appear as separate chats where users can send messages in the same way they would message individual contacts.
WhatsApp has officially launched bill payments in India, allowing users to pay electricity, gas, water, FASTag, insurance and other bills directly within the messaging app. According to reports from Bloomberg, Business Standard, The Indian Express, and The Economic Times, the feature is powered by the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) network and provides access to 22,722 billers across 30 categories. As per WhatsApp, the feature was officially launched on September 3, 2026, and is being rolled out gradually across India with full availability expected across iOS and Android devices in the coming weeks. Arun Srinivas, Managing Director and Country Head of Meta India, stated that the company is bringing bill payments to WhatsApp to reduce the need for users to switch between apps or keep track of multiple payment services. As reported by The Indian Express, Srinivas emphasized that "For millions of Indians, WhatsApp is already the simplest way to stay close to family and friends, talk to businesses, access citizen services, and buy everything from metro tickets to insurance — all without leaving the app. With Bill payments, we're bringing that same simplicity to one of the most routine tasks in every household."
The bill payments feature extends WhatsApp's existing utility-led services in India, building on the platform's current capabilities for mobile recharges, metro-ticket bookings and accessing citizen services through government chatbots. According to Bloomberg, the new feature adds another recurring transaction to that ecosystem, placing bill discovery, account management and payment within the same interface users already use for communication and other services. By integrating bill payments through the BBPS network, WhatsApp is connecting its existing user interface with a broader bill-payment infrastructure rather than limiting the service to a single utility or category. The feature supports multiple accounts under a single biller, allowing users to manage bills for their home, office and family from the same place. The backstory to the feature lies in India's broader digital bill-payment infrastructure, with Bharat Connect providing an interoperable network through which consumers can access and pay bills across participating billers and categories. As per Bloomberg, the service will be available to users on both Android and iOS devices as Meta progressively expands access across the country.
According to the reports, users can view past payments and upcoming bills, manage multiple accounts under the same biller, and choose from supported payment methods without leaving the app. WhatsApp will also pre-fetch bills, with billers that users have previously paid through the Bill payments feature appearing on the Payments Home page for quicker access. The Payments Home page will automatically surface commonly used bill categories, with a 'See All' option to access the wider list of more than 20 categories. The third-party AI agent feature operates through separate privacy protections, with messages exchanged not protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption because they are processed through a Meta service on behalf of the third-party agent developer. WhatsApp has placed restrictions on what third-party agents can access, limiting them to the conversation in which they are being used and preventing access to user's other WhatsApp chats, contacts, or media stored in other conversations. Third-party agents cannot currently be added to WhatsApp groups or communities, and users can remove agents through WhatsApp's settings to disconnect them from the platform.
The bill payment launch comes amid significant growth in WhatsApp's payments service adoption in India, with the launch strategically positioned to capture a larger share of the country's booming digital payments ecosystem. According to WhatsApp, WhatsApp Pay processed 167.89 million transactions worth ₹12,957.07 crore in July 2026, more than doubling its transaction volume from last year. The platform's share of UPI transaction volume also increased to around 0.7 percent in June 2026 from 0.27 percent in the same month two years earlier. This growth helped WhatsApp Pay overtake Cred to become the eighth-largest UPI app in India by transaction volume in June 2026. The platform's growth comes about 19 months after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) removed restrictions on WhatsApp Pay's user onboarding in December 2024. The apex retail payments body granted WhatsApp approval in November 2020 to go live on UPI under the multi-bank model in a graded manner, initially allowing it to onboard 20 million users. The limit was raised to 40 million in 2021 and subsequently to 100 million in 2022, with restrictions on user onboarding being removed in 2024. India remains WhatsApp's biggest market, with the messaging app having over 850 million users in India alone, and the company also appointed Cred founder Kunal Shah as its global leader in June.
