WhatsApp is developing a new tool that will allow users to write messages in advance and have them sent automatically at a chosen time, eliminating the need to remember to send them later.

The feature is currently being tested by a limited number of Android beta users, following several months of development. It is designed to work with regular chats and group conversations, supporting text messages as well as links, photos and videos. Messages will remain protected by WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption.

To schedule a message, users enter their message as usual and then press and hold the send button to select a delivery time. Once scheduled, the message will be sent automatically at the designated time, even if WhatsApp is closed or the device is offline.

Users will reportedly be able to schedule messages from as little as 10 minutes ahead to as far as two weeks in advance, offering flexibility for reminders, birthday greetings and other messages that should arrive at a particular time.

A dedicated section within the chat information screen will let users review upcoming messages and make changes or delete them before they are sent. Recipients will not be notified if a scheduled message is deleted, nor will they know that it had been scheduled in the first place.

The feature will also support group chats, with one important restriction: only people who were members of the group when the message was scheduled will receive it. Anyone who joins the group afterward will not receive that previously scheduled message.

For now, access remains limited to selected beta testers. WhatsApp is expected to expand testing in the coming weeks, although a general release date has not been confirmed.