Guide · WhatsApp Business app · For the owner who posts to Status

Posting on WhatsApp Status as a business: who sees it, the 24 hours, the archive and sharing your catalog

If you post offers, new stock or opening hours to WhatsApp Status from the WhatsApp Business app, WhatsApp's Help Center explains who sees those posts, what you can see back, how stickers let customers answer a question, what the app keeps after the 24 hours are up, how to put your catalog in a post, and what to check when a customer cannot see your status. Here is what those pages say, in plain language.

Published 14 October 2026 · Updated 15 October 2026

What Status is

WhatsApp's Help Center says Status lets you share text, photo, video and GIF updates that disappear after 24 hours. The pages set a few limits:

90 seconds: The maximum duration for a status is 90 seconds. WhatsApp supports the 3GP and MPEG-4 video formats.
Not in HD: HD media is not supported for statuses, and Meta says the quality of images, GIFs and videos uploaded to Status may be lower than the original.
Always on: It is not possible to turn off or disable WhatsApp Status.

Ads that appear in other people's Status are a separate product, covered in our guide to ads in WhatsApp Status. Status pictures made with Meta AI are in our guide to making pictures with Meta AI. This page is about your own ordinary posts.

Who sees a post

Meta says that by default, your statuses are shared with all your contacts. The Status Privacy setting gives you three choices:

My contacts: All of your contacts can see your status.
My contacts except…: You choose contacts to leave out of your status audience.
Only share with…: You choose the only contacts who can see your statuses.

The privacy page adds three points an owner should know before posting:

Not backwards: Changes to your privacy settings do not affect any status you have already shared.
Posting to a group: When you post a status to a group, every member of that group can see it, whatever your status privacy settings say.
Deleted contacts: If you delete a contact who has already viewed a status, they stay on the list of viewers until the status expires.

Our reading

Because the default is every contact, a post meant for some customers, such as a trade price or a staff notice, reaches all of them unless you change Status Privacy before you post. Changing it afterwards does not pull the post back.

Mentions and reshares

Meta is rolling status mentions out in phases, so you may not have them yet. A mention lets a person or group know you have shared a status for them to see.

Up to five: You can add up to 5 mentions on a status at a time. The people you mention are notified privately, and others viewing the status cannot see who you mentioned. When you mention a group, all its members can see the mention.
Outside your audience: A person or group you mention can see the status even if they are not in your status audience. This does not change the audience for your future statuses.
A message in their chats: They get a message from you in the Chats tab saying you mentioned them, with a link to the status. A group mention goes to the existing group chat.
Edit and reshare: The people you mention can reshare the content of your status to their own audience as their own post, and can edit that copy before sharing it. Meta says a reshare shows the content of your status but does not reveal your name, profile info or phone number.

WhatsApp's general page on resharing, which does not mention the Business app, adds that people can reshare someone else's status to their own status as long as that person allows resharing, or if they are mentioned in it. Only the status content goes with a reshare: the original poster's name, phone number and profile photo are not included. For now, resharing is not available on the web; it works from an Android phone or iPhone.

Our reading

A mention is a quiet way to make sure one customer sees an update, without changing who sees your other posts. The post still goes to your whole status audience as well, so it is not a private message. Because a reshare carries the picture or text but not your name or number, a post that may travel works best when the business name is in the picture or text itself.

Views, likes and replies

Meta says you can see a list of who has viewed and liked your status, and when they viewed it. People who like your status are marked with a green heart.

Read receipts: You cannot see who has viewed your status if either of you has turned off read receipts.
Replies arrive in the chat: Replies and reactions to your status are sent to your shared chat with that person and labelled Status.
Likes on the web: Meta's page on viewing other people's statuses says that, for now, liking a status isn't available on the web.
No editing: You cannot edit a status. You can delete it and share a new update. Statuses are deleted one at a time; you cannot delete several at once.
After you delete: If a contact is having connection problems, a deleted status might still be visible to them. If you delete a status with mentions, the people you mentioned might not see it.

Stickers that get customers to answer

This comes from WhatsApp's general Status help, which does not say whether the WhatsApp Business app differs. Meta notes that some sticker features are rolling out and may not be available to you yet.

A question sticker asks your audience a question and collects their answers in real time. To add one, open the Updates tab, start a new status, pick a photo, video, Music or Layout (or tap Camera), then tap the stickers icon on the editing screen and choose Question, write your question, and post.

Answers stay private: Your audience cannot see the answers you receive. You see each one through the notification you get, or on the Activity page of your status.
Replying: A reply to an answer goes to your shared chat with that person, and only the two of you can see it.
Add to status: You can turn an answer into a new status with Add to status. The new status does not include the person's name or information, so your audience will not know who sent it.
Report or delete: Report, then Report again, sends an answer to WhatsApp for review, and the person will not know you reported them. Delete, then Delete again, removes it from your status activity page.

Meta's page on status stickers lists the other kinds you can put on a post:

Reaction sticker: One per status. Viewers tap it to react with an emoji, as many times as they like, but you are notified only once. Open your status to see the reactions.
Add yours: You write a prompt, and your audience can add their own statuses to that topic.
Music: Search for a song or browse popular ones, then use the progress bar to pick the section that plays.
Location, photo and avatar: A location sticker adds a place to your status. Photo stickers are made from your own photos, and avatar stickers come from an avatar you have created.

Our reading

A question sticker is a simple way to ask customers which product, size or time they want, without the answers showing to everyone else. If you put an answer back on Status with Add to status, the customer's name is left off, but the words they wrote are seen by your whole audience, so read it first.

Sharing your catalog to Status

WhatsApp's Help Center has a page for the WhatsApp Business app on this. You can share a link to your whole catalog, or to one product or service in it, to your status:

1. Open the catalog: Tap Tools, then Catalog, to open Catalog Manager.
2. Share: Tap Share.
3. Add to status: Tap Add to status to put the link to your catalog or item in your status, then send it.

The page notes that by default, status updates are shared with all of your contacts. Setting up the catalog itself is covered in our guide to the catalog and cart in the WhatsApp Business app.

The archive of past posts

Meta's page on archiving a business status says statuses on the WhatsApp Business app are archived automatically after 24 hours and saved on your device for up to 30 days. The feature may not be available to you yet; when it is, you are told in the Updates tab.

Turning it off: Tap Archive settings in that notification and turn off Save updates to archive. On Android you can also go to the Updates tab, open the menu, then Status archive settings, and turn off Save status.
Deleted early, not saved: If you delete a photo or video from your status before it expires, that status is not saved to your archive.
Ads from the archive: Meta's page says an archived status can be used to create an ad, from up to 10 archived images or a single video, under Advertise.

Meta's general status archive page, also rolling out gradually, lists what is kept when a status expires:

What is saved: The photo, video or text, its caption and timestamp, the audience list, like counts and names, interactive sticker responses, shares and the total number of views.
Viewer names for one day: Viewer names are only available for 24 hours after you post. After that, only the view count is kept.
On your phone: Only you can see your archive unless you share from it. Archived statuses are stored on your device, stay end-to-end encrypted, count toward your WhatsApp storage, and are included in your WhatsApp backup by default.
Switching off and deleting: The archive is on by default. Turning it off stops new statuses being archived but does not delete those already there, and deleting an archived status is permanent.

Our reading

If you want to know exactly who saw an offer, look within the first day: after that the archive keeps the count, not the names. The business page also says the archive keeps posts for up to 30 days, so anything you want to keep longer is worth saving yourself.

Sharing a post to Facebook and Instagram Stories

This comes from WhatsApp's general Status help, which does not say whether the WhatsApp Business app has the same option. In available regions, Meta says you can share your status to Facebook and Instagram Stories once WhatsApp is in your Meta Account, the new name for Accounts Center that Meta is rolling out gradually. Adding WhatsApp there is optional.

Same Meta Account: To turn on status sharing, WhatsApp must be in the same Meta Account as an existing Facebook or Instagram profile.
One post at a time: Open your status and choose Share to Facebook, Share to Instagram, or Share… to pick another app.
Every post: From the Updates tab, Automatically share your status turns on automatic sharing to Facebook and Instagram Stories.
Their privacy, not WhatsApp's: A status shared to a Facebook or Instagram story uses the story privacy settings you chose on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta's page on what is shared says status sharing is optional and off by default. You can choose to always share your status, or to share only the statuses you pick, and you can turn sharing off at any time. If you turn it on, the page lists what each app receives. Your Facebook or Instagram profile photo and name go to WhatsApp; your status goes the other way:

WhatsApp receives: Your Facebook or Instagram profile photo and name, to help confirm your account.
Facebook or Instagram receive: Device information such as language, browser information and IP address, and, for each status you share, status information such as its content, media type and caption.
Not shared: Your phone number, contacts and messages on WhatsApp. Meta says your personal messages stay end-to-end encrypted.
How it is used: What Facebook and Instagram receive may be used for the purposes in Meta's Privacy Policy, including for ads and personalization. A status you share there is subject to Meta's Community Standards.

Our reading

Once shared, the post follows the Facebook or Instagram audience, not your Status Privacy choice. If you limit a WhatsApp post to some contacts, check the story settings on the other apps before turning on automatic sharing.

When a post will not go up, or looks blurry

Meta's troubleshooting page lists these causes and fixes:

Connection: A weak connection can stop a post or make uploaded photos look blurry. Try switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data, or contact your network provider.
Storage space: Meta says you need at least 1GB of space left on your phone to share a status.
The file: Check the image or video is not corrupt. Videos can be at most 90 seconds, in 3GP or MP4 format; if a video is longer, only the first 90 seconds are shared.
Compression: Files are usually compressed when shared on WhatsApp, so status photos and videos can look blurry, grainy or pixelated compared with the original.
Restart and update: Restart your phone, and update WhatsApp to the latest version for your device.

When a customer can't see your status, or views and replies don't show

WhatsApp's general Status help, which does not mention the Business app separately, has a troubleshooting page for when you cannot see someone's status, or are not receiving messages from others on your status. It lists these checks:

No longer available: You might see "this status is no longer available" when the status expired (a status is only available for 24 hours), the person who shared it deleted it, or it was taken down for violating WhatsApp's Terms of Service. If you were mentioned in a status and cannot see it, you can ask the person to share it with you again.
Read receipts: If you or the person viewing your status has turned read receipts off, you will not be able to see status views.
Status privacy: The person may have changed their status privacy settings, or you may not be in their status audience. On your own status, you will not see replies or messages if your privacy settings do not allow messages from those contacts, or if the person replying is not in your audience.
Saved contacts: Add the other person to your contacts and ask them to add you to theirs. Check numbers are saved in full international format. If you have more than one account, use the WhatsApp account and number your contacts have saved for you. Some contact names will not appear when you view a status unless WhatsApp has full access to your phone's address book.
Blocking: If you have blocked someone, you will not see any messages, replies or status updates they send.
Connection and the app: Both of you need a strong mobile data or Wi-Fi connection. Meta also suggests resetting WhatsApp's app permissions and making sure they are all on, restarting your phone, and updating WhatsApp to the latest version, then opening your status list again.

Meta's page on read receipts explains the setting behind status views. You turn it off in WhatsApp's privacy settings with the Read receipts switch:

Both ways: With read receipts off, you might not be able to see who views your status, and others may not be able to see when you view theirs. You also will not see read receipts from others. Read receipts in group chats and play receipts for voice messages cannot be turned off.
Message info: For an ordinary message, the Message info screen shows when it was Delivered, Read or Seen, and Played. Read receipts reset when you edit a message.
No blue ticks: Meta lists these reasons: read receipts are off on either side, the person blocked you or has not opened the chat, a connection problem, it is the first message they have had from you, or the date and time on either phone is wrong.

Our reading

For a shop, the contacts check is the one to act on. One of Meta's checks is that both sides save each other's number, so a customer who has not saved your WhatsApp Business app number may not see your posts. Asking customers to save the number, with the country code, is worth doing before you rely on Status for offers. If you run two numbers, post from the one customers have saved.

Hiding other people's statuses, and posting from your own app

WhatsApp's general Status help says you can hide statuses to remove them from the Status tab, which a shop might do for a supplier's or another shop's posts. Hidden statuses still arrive, in the Hidden section of the Status tab, and you can unhide them there.

Your audience is separate: Hiding or unhiding someone's status does not change whether they can see yours. To keep someone from seeing your status, change your status audience in your status privacy settings.
When the Hidden section shows: It only appears if a hidden contact has shared a recent status. When they do, you see it there and can unhide them.
Mentions still arrive: Someone whose status you hide can still send you statuses in chats with a mention. To stop that, block the person or archive your shared chat.

A separate Help Center page is for anyone who makes their own Android or iPhone app, including a business. WhatsApp's Share to Status feature lets that app send photos, videos and stickers to WhatsApp Status. WhatsApp loads them in the status composer, and the person edits and publishes the post like a regular status.

Two layers: The status composer has a background layer that fills the screen, which can be a photo, a video, a solid colour or a colour gradient, and a foreground layer that holds an image.
Formats: For the background: images in JPG or PNG, with a recommended minimum of 720 x 1280 pixels, or videos in MOV, MP4 or WebM at 720p or 1080p, up to 60 seconds, with a recommended 9:16 shape. The foreground can only be a JPG or PNG image.
Terms: Using the feature means agreeing to the Meta Developer Terms, and confirming that you hold all the rights needed to share the content and have the authority to make those statements for your organisation.

Our reading

Meta's page only explains how an Android or iPhone app hands photos, videos or stickers to WhatsApp, so this mainly helps a business that already has its own phone app, such as an ordering or loyalty app. The post goes on the customer's own status, not yours.

Music on a post, and reports

Meta says the music suggested for a status is based on your general location and language, your device and app version, and your music activity on status. Your status is end-to-end encrypted, so WhatsApp cannot see the songs you add; Meta receives anonymous information about songs added in order to pay rightsholders and does not know which songs you chose. The music choices in the WhatsApp Business app might be different, and availability can vary by country. A separate page notes that music on Status is currently not supported on WhatsApp Web.

Anyone who believes a status update is harmful or breaks WhatsApp's policies can report it, and can also block the sender. Meta says a report cannot be cancelled once submitted, and if the reported content does not violate its policies, the person who posted it is not affected.

Questions

BitByteCore is a verified Meta Tech Provider (since 9 September 2026). This guide repeats WhatsApp's Help Center as we read it on 14 and 15 October 2026, and is not legal advice.

Who sees our Status posts by default?

All of your contacts. Meta says you can change this in Status Privacy to My contacts except… or Only share with…, but the change does not affect posts already shared, and a status posted to a group is seen by every member of the group.

Can we see who viewed a post after the 24 hours?

Only the number, and only if the status archive is available to you and switched on. Meta's status archive page says viewer names are available for 24 hours after you post, after which only the view count is kept. You also cannot see viewers if either side has turned off read receipts.

Can we fix a typo in a status?

No. Meta says statuses cannot be edited. Delete it and share a new update.

Can we put our catalog on Status?

Yes. In the WhatsApp Business app, tap Tools, then Catalog, then Share, then Add to status. It works for the whole catalog or one product or service, and goes to all your contacts by default.

Can customers answer a question on our Status without others seeing?

Yes, according to WhatsApp's general Status help. A question sticker collects answers that your audience cannot see; you see them in a notification or on the status Activity page, and a reply goes to your private chat with that person. Others only see an answer if you add it to your status yourself, and then the person's name and information are left off. The page does not say whether the WhatsApp Business app differs.

Does sharing our status to Instagram share our phone number?

Not according to WhatsApp's general Status help, which does not say whether the WhatsApp Business app differs. It says your phone number, contacts and messages on WhatsApp are not shared. Facebook or Instagram receive device information and status information such as the content, media type and caption of each status you share. Status sharing is optional and off by default.

A customer says they cannot see our status. What should we check?

WhatsApp's general Status help lists the checks: the status may have passed its 24 hours or been deleted, the customer may not be in your status audience, and both of you should have each other saved in your contacts, in full international format. A strong connection, an up-to-date WhatsApp and a restart can also help. If either of you has read receipts off, you will not see their view.

If we hide a supplier's statuses, can they still see ours?

Yes. Meta says hiding someone's status only moves their posts to the Hidden section of your Status tab and does not change whether they can see yours. To keep someone from seeing your status, change your status audience.

Why is our video cut short?

Meta says a status video can be at most 90 seconds. If you upload a longer one, only the first 90 seconds are shared.

Who is BitByteCore?

BitByteCore is a verified Meta Tech Provider (since 9 September 2026). This guide repeats WhatsApp's own Help Center. Status posts and the status archive are features of the WhatsApp Business app, which you run yourself.

Sources

WhatsApp Help Center: About status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to create and share a status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to manage status privacy, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About status mentions, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to see who viewed or liked your status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to view, like, and reply to status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to edit, save and delete your status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About sharing your catalog to your WhatsApp business status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About archiving your business status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About status archive, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to share your WhatsApp Status to other apps, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: Can't create or share status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About how WhatsApp suggests music on status, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to report someone's status update, read 14 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to add question stickers to your status, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to add stickers to your status, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to reshare statuses, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About information shared when you share status updates to Facebook and Instagram Stories, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: About adding music to WhatsApp Status, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: Can't see someone's statuses or replies, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to check read receipts, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to hide and unhide statuses, read 15 October 2026.
WhatsApp Help Center: How to integrate status with third-party apps, read 15 October 2026.

This guide describes Meta's pages as we read them, and is not legal advice. More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

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