WhatsApp is showing Status updates from unsaved numbers

WhatsApp users appear to be seeing something that should not be happening: Status updates from phone numbers they never saved, and in some cases, numbers that were once saved but later deleted still show up without a name.

I noticed it on my own phone first. A deleted contact kept appearing in my Status tab as a plain number, even though it no longer existed in my address book. WhatsApp’s own help pages do not clearly explain that behaviour. The company says Status updates are shared with contacts by default, while deleted viewers can remain visible until a Status expires, or an unknown number may simply be tied to someone who changed their number. None of that fully explains what many users are now reporting.

The issue also seems to be gaining attention online. A post on X by @Thedorathybach describing the same experience has been reposted widely and pulled in hundreds of thousands of views.

What made this feel more than a one-off glitch is that the same thing showed up in my own informal checks too. My girlfriend had noticed it as well, and unlike me, she could not identify the numbers showing up in her feed at all.

Reddit tells a similar story. In one thread, users asked whether WhatsApp had quietly changed how Status visibility works. In another, one user suspected a bug tied to chat history. A separate desktop-focused report suggests the behaviour may differ between phone and computer apps. Another thread describes the same mystery.

There’s plenty of other reports doing rounds on X too, suggesting this isn’t an isolated matter. Interestingly, reports date back to several months ago, which further suggests this isn’t something new out of the latest update to the app.

At this point, though, the big question remains unanswered. Is WhatsApp testing a new feature, or is this a privacy bug quietly spreading across devices? Either way, many users are noticing, so nope! You’re not imagining it.