The rollout follows months of limited public testing, during which screenshots of Instagram Plus features circulated online. Subscribers will now gain access to tools that are unavailable in the standard version of the apps, including expanded Story controls, additional audience lists, profile customization options, and new engagement insights.
Instagram Plus users, for example, can see how many people rewatched a Story, search through viewer lists, spotlight one Story each week for more visibility, and extend Stories beyond the usual 24-hour limit. The subscription also includes features designed to reduce visibility in certain situations, such as the ability to preview another user’s Story without appearing in the viewer list and publish posts directly to a profile without pushing them into followers’ feeds.
Other additions include animated “Super Heart” reactions, custom fonts for bios, alternate app icons, and extra profile pins. Facebook Plus offers a similar collection of social and discovery-focused tools, while WhatsApp Plus centers more heavily on messaging personalization with app themes, custom ringtones, premium stickers, extra pinned chats, and list customization features.
Meta says the Plus subscriptions are separate from Meta Verified, the company’s existing paid verification program focused on impersonation protection, customer support, and account authentication. According to Meta, the new subscriptions are designed more for power users, creators, and people seeking additional customization or audience insights across the apps.
Alongside the launch, Meta is also starting tests for additional paid plans under the new Meta One umbrella. That includes subscription tiers for Meta AI users, creators, and businesses.
For AI users, Meta plans to test two new offerings: Meta One Plus at $7.99 per month and Meta One Premium at $19.99 per month. Both plans include expanded access to Meta AI features, but the Premium tier unlocks more capacity for higher-compute tasks, including deeper reasoning capabilities and expanded image and video generation limits across Meta’s apps.
Meta said its AI assistant will remain free in some form, though more advanced usage and higher-capacity tools will sit behind paid tiers. The company also said future AI subscription benefits will expand to users of its AI glasses.
Separately, Meta is beginning tests for creator and business subscriptions that bundle analytics, discovery tools, audience insights, profile enhancements, and account management features. The higher-end business and creator plans also include tools intended to improve visibility across Facebook and Instagram search and feeds.
Meta executive Naomi Gleit said additional features will continue rolling out over time as the company expands its subscription strategy.
The broader launch reflects Meta’s growing effort to diversify revenue beyond advertising while building recurring subscription businesses around social networking, creator tools, and AI products. It also places Meta more directly alongside other AI companies that have increasingly adopted paid models tied to compute usage, advanced reasoning systems, and premium generative features.
This analysis is based on reporting from Engadget.
Image courtesy of Social Samosa.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
