WhatsApp tests birthday dates in contact info screen

WhatsApp is quietly building a feature that could save users a trip to their calendar app every time they want to check a friend's birthday. The company is testing a dedicated birthday field inside the contact info screen, spotted in the iOS beta version 26.38.10.70 available through TestFlight.

WhatsApp places the new field near the top of the contact info screen, right after the contact's name and last seen status. Users won't need to scroll to find it. The placement makes the detail hard to miss the moment someone opens a chat's info page.

How does WhatsApp get the birthday data?

The app gathers this information straight out of the phone's contacts list and not from user entries in WhatsApp. In case the contact's birthday has been saved using the Contacts application, WhatsApp automatically shows it to you. Any modifications to the saved birthday date of the contact get synced instantly without any hassle.

This is not the first initiative from WhatsApp for highlighting a birthday. In a previous beta update, WhatsApp had birthday reminders in its new Contacts tab, where there was a cake emoji and a 'Birthday Today' tag.

The birthday reminder feature shows up once a year, and that too for one day at a time. The contact information page field makes up for that because now you can verify the date well in advance.

WhatsApp has not made the birthday field available to beta testers yet, and the company hasn't confirmed a rollout timeline.