Ads in your WhatsApp Status? How to hide them, and what you can't switch off

Published October 22, 2026

If you tap through your friends' Status updates and a full-screen ad slides in between two of them, nothing is wrong with your phone. WhatsApp is showing ads in the Updates tab, and this week a lot of people noticed them for the first time. Posts on X on October 22 were full of screenshots of ads popping up mid-Status and people asking how to get rid of them.

You can't turn them off. You can hide individual ads, block every ad from a specific advertiser, and report the ones that look like scams. Here is how each of those works, and what WhatsApp says it uses to choose the ads.

Where the ads appear

Meta announced ads in Status in June 2025, together with promoted channels and paid channel subscriptions. All three live in the Updates tab, which holds Status and Channels. Meta said at the time the tab was used by 1.5 billion people a day.

Ads do not appear in your chats, group chats or call list. WhatsApp's Help Center puts it plainly: if you only use WhatsApp for personal messaging, you won't see ads. In practice that means you only meet them if you open the Updates tab and watch Status or browse Channels.

The rollout is gradual. If a friend sees ads and you don't, that is expected. WhatsApp says the feature "may not be available to you yet."

Hide a single Status ad

When an ad shows up between Status updates:

Tap the menu icon on the ad.
Tap Not interested.
Pick a reason.

The reason you pick is feedback for WhatsApp. It removes that ad, not every ad.

Hide a channel ad

Promoted channels show up in the Channels directory with a Sponsored label. Tap the word Sponsored, then Hide ad.

Block every ad from one advertiser

If the same company keeps showing up, hiding ads one at a time gets old. WhatsApp keeps a list of the ads and advertisers you've seen recently, and you can hide an advertiser from there.

On your phone, go to Settings > Account > Ad preferences for Status and Channels. You can also open the Updates tab, tap the menu, and choose Ad preferences.
Open Recent ad activity or Advertisers you've seen.
Tap the ad or the advertiser, then Hide ads from this advertiser.

If you change your mind, the same screen lets you show that advertiser's ads again.

These preferences are managed in the phone app. WhatsApp Web and the desktop apps don't let you change them yet. If you've added WhatsApp to Meta's Accounts Center, the advertiser list is managed there instead, under the ad preferences in your account settings. Meta says some Accounts Center ad settings, like Ad topics and Audience-based advertising, don't apply to WhatsApp at all.

See why you got a particular ad

Tap Sponsored on a channel ad, or the menu on a Status ad, and choose Why you're seeing this ad. The answer is usually broad, along the lines of "this advertiser wants to reach people in your country."

That matches what Meta said in its announcement. To pick ads in Status and Channels, WhatsApp uses limited information: your country or city, your language, the channels you follow, and how you interact with the ads you see. If you added WhatsApp to Accounts Center, it also uses your ad preferences and information from your other Meta accounts. Meta says it doesn't sell or share your phone number with advertisers, and your personal messages, calls and groups are not used to choose ads.

So if you just talked about running shoes with a friend and then see a shoe ad in Status, your chat didn't cause it. Your messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means Meta can't read them either.

Report a scam ad or the website it opens

Some Status ads lead to websites, and scammers buy ads like anyone else. If an ad looks wrong:

Status ad: open the ad's menu, tap Report ad, then Report.
Channel ad: tap Ad under the promoted channel, then Report ad and Report.
A website you opened from an ad: open the page's menu and choose Report website, then pick a reason. The options include "Misleading content or scam" and "Excessive or disruptive ads."

You can track what happened to your reports under Settings > Help and feedback > Reports.

WhatsApp says you can also report channel ads without being logged in, by finding them in the Meta Ad Library.

Don't type a card number, bank login or one-time code into a page an ad sent you to. If someone then messages you about the same "offer," block and report that number.

What reduces ads, and what doesn't

There is no setting that removes ads from Status. Some things do cut down how many you see:

Hide advertisers you keep seeing. This is the most direct control you have.
Unfollow channels you don't read. The channels you follow are one of the signals used to pick ads.
Check Accounts Center. If WhatsApp is linked there, your Facebook and Instagram ad history can shape your WhatsApp ads too. Adding WhatsApp to Accounts Center is optional.
Skip the Updates tab. Ads only appear there. If you mostly use WhatsApp to chat, you won't run into them.

Your own Status is unaffected. Ads don't change who can see what you post. That is still set under Settings > Privacy > Status.