WhatsApp message summaries and Writing Help: who has them and how to turn them on

WhatsApp’s two Private Processing AI features, message summaries and Writing Help, are off by default, and you switch both on in Settings > Chats > Private Processing. As of 20 October 2026, WhatsApp’s help center says they support English, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish and are available only in limited countries, without publishing which ones. WhatsApp documents both for its iPhone and Android apps.

This page has the current availability on a stated date, exact steps to turn each feature on and use it, a checklist for when you can’t find them, and what Meta can and can’t see.

Who has them? Availability as of 20 October 2026

	Message summaries	Writing Help
What it does	Summarizes the unread messages in an individual or group chat	Suggests replies, or rewrites your draft: Rephrase, Professional, Funny, Supportive or Proofread
First launched	June 2025, in select markets (WhatsApp blog)	August 2025, in English, starting in the US and several other countries (WhatsApp blog)
Languages now	English, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish	English, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish
Countries	“Limited countries”; no public list	“Limited countries”; no public list
Apps covered by WhatsApp’s how-to	iPhone and Android	iPhone and Android
Default	Off	Off
On/off switch	Settings > Chats > Private Processing	Same switch
Who sees the result	Only you; it disappears when you scroll away or leave the chat	Only you, until you send a suggestion
Price	Free	Free

Sources: About message summaries, About writing help, How to turn Private Processing features on or off. WhatsApp adds that even within a supported country, the features may reach some people before others.

How to turn on message summaries and Writing Help

One switch controls both:

1. Update WhatsApp from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Open WhatsApp Settings.
3. Tap Chats > Private Processing.
4. Turn Private Processing features on.

The first time you use either feature, WhatsApp asks you to accept Meta’s AI terms (tap Continue, or Try it > Continue). Turning the switch off later removes both options from your chats.

How to use message summaries

1. Open an individual or group chat with unread messages.
2. Tap the {number} unread messages label above the first unread message. It only appears once there are enough unread messages; WhatsApp doesn’t say how many.
3. Accept the terms and tap Continue if asked.
4. The summary appears in the chat, visible only to you (WhatsApp’s steps).

It only covers what’s unread. To get the gist of a thread you’ve already opened, or to ask questions about a group, see our guide to summarizing a WhatsApp group chat, which covers side chat with Meta AI and other methods. For iMessage threads on a Mac, see how to summarize iMessage on a Mac.

How to use Writing Help

WhatsApp’s blog calls the button a pencil icon. There are two ways to use it (WhatsApp’s steps):

Get a suggested reply. Open a chat that already has a few messages, tap the Writing Help icon, pick one of the suggestions, edit it if you like, and send.

Rewrite your own draft.

1. Type at least four words in the message field.
2. Tap the Writing Help icon, or select your text (double-tap on iPhone, tap and hold on Android) and tap Rewrite.
3. Choose Rephrase, Professional, Funny, Supportive or Proofread.
4. Pick a suggestion, edit it, and send.

Some tones may not be offered in every supported language.

Why don’t I have message summaries or Writing Help?

Work down this list:

• Your country isn’t included yet. WhatsApp doesn’t publish the list, and says access can vary even between people in the same country.
• Your language isn’t supported. Only English, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish, as of 20 October 2026.
• The switch is off. It’s off by default: Settings > Chats > Private Processing.
• Your app is out of date. Update and check again.
• You’re on a computer. WhatsApp’s instructions for both features cover the phone apps only.
• The chat is restricted. If someone turned on Restricted chat, nobody can use Meta AI features in that chat (About restricted chat).
• There isn’t enough to work with. Summaries need enough unread messages; suggested replies need a few messages in the chat; rewrites need four or more words.

Privacy: what Meta can and can’t see

Both features use Private Processing, which WhatsApp describes as a way to process messages off your phone in a confidential environment that neither Meta nor WhatsApp can read (About Private Processing). In practice:

• What leaves your phone: the unread messages you summarize, or the draft you want rewritten, sent encrypted to Meta AI servers running inside a trusted execution environment.
• What’s kept: WhatsApp says nothing is stored after the request is completed.
• Who knows you used it: only you. Nobody in the chat is told.
• How the design works: Meta’s engineering team says requests go through a third-party relay that hides your IP address, and the servers prove which software they’re running before your phone sends anything (Engineering at Meta). WhatsApp’s blog says NCC Group and Trail of Bits reviewed the design.
• What Meta admits is still a risk: the same engineering post lists attacks on the secure hardware, malicious insiders and unknown risks among the threats it designs against.
• Your own log: you can create and download a report of your Private Processing activity from WhatsApp.

Two points most coverage misses. First, other people can summarize the messages you send them, because summaries work on their copy of the chat. Second, you can stop that in a specific chat with Restricted chat: in a group only admins can turn it on, and in a one-to-one chat either person can. Restricted chat also blocks exporting the chat and using linked devices in it. WhatsApp warns that people on older app versions may still be able to use unofficial clients or AI agents in the chat, and you aren’t told who they are.

How to turn them off

Go to Settings > Chats > Private Processing and turn it off. The summary label and the Writing Help button disappear from your chats. This doesn’t stop other people using the features on their side; Restricted chat does that, chat by chat. For the rest of Meta AI in WhatsApp, see how far you can turn off Meta AI.

Writing Help vs replies in your own style

Writing Help gives you five fixed options. It can make a draft more professional or funnier, but it doesn’t learn how you text, so its “Supportive” option isn’t tuned to your voice. If your friends would notice the change, that’s a problem; our guide to making AI replies sound like you explains why and how to fix it with any AI.

If you answer WhatsApp on a Mac, Tera Chat (our app) takes the other approach: it learns your texting style from your messages (slang, emoji, how long your messages run) and drafts replies in it, across iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram. You can tag contacts (family, colleague and so on) and set a different tone for each tag. You edit and send each reply yourself. It also summarizes the latest messages in any thread (up to the last 100) with ⇧⌘S, read or not. Messages stay on your Mac; the text it works on goes to the AI you choose, which can be your ChatGPT account (through Codex) or a Claude or Grok API key, at no cost from Tera Chat (Instagram drafts need ChatGPT through Codex or a Tera Chat AI plan). It needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later, and it isn’t on phones, where WhatsApp’s own features live.

The short version

If you have the features, they’re a free, private-by-design way to catch up on unread messages and polish a draft on your phone. If you don’t, the likeliest reasons are your country and language; keep the app updated and check the Private Processing setting again from time to time. For more ways to get AI help with WhatsApp, including what Meta allows, see AI for WhatsApp replies, and for a wider view of how these privacy models compare, read is it safe to let AI read your messages?. The broader comparison of reply tools is in AI that replies to texts in your style.