WhatsApp’s self-chat feature now rolling out to beta users: How it works

WhatsApp has been working on a new ‘self-chat’ feature for some time, and it seems the addition is now finally rolling out to some WhatsApp users on the beta channel. The new feature allows users to chat with themselves, effectively creating a single-person chat window where they can store important messages or files for easy quick access.
These chats can then be read or even forwarded at any point in the future as finding them is super easy. Users on the beta channel who have received the feature can check it out going to the contacts page in the app and looking for the contact that says Me(You) with a ‘Message yourself’ subtext.

The new feature for beta users was spotted first WABetaInfo. Here’s where beta users can find the option.
Here’s where you can find the new option. (Image Source: WABetaInfo)
WhatsApp has had the ability to chat with yourself for ages, but initiating a chat with your own phone number has been a complex process, requiring you to basically generate a custom URL with your phone number that would then redirect you to a self-chat window when entered in a browser.
While this is not something very hard to do and remains a one-time process, it is still a hassle compared to a dedicated shortcut to achieve this directly.
The feature is still available only to WhatsApp beta users and stable users will still need to wait a little longer before they have access to the same. However, if you want to initiate a self-chat using the URL method, here’s how you can do that.