Blue circle suddenly disappeared What is this purple blossom doing in WhatsApp?
WhatsApp swaps the blue circle for purple dots. But what's behind it and what can you use them for?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Meta replaces the blue circle in WhatsApp with purple dots.
- Behind the new logo is Muse Spark, the new AI model from Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- Muse Spark understands text and images, is competitive with OpenAI and Google according to benchmarks, but is not a clear market leader.
Anyone who has opened WhatsApp in the last few days will have noticed something: The blue circle that has greeted millions of users without being asked since 2025 and regularly caused confusion and displeasure is gone. It is now replaced by purple dots in the shape of flowers. It is the new face of Meta AI. What looks like a cosmetic refresh is actually the most visible expression of a major strategic realignment at Zuckerberg's company.
New model and a new face
Behind the new logo is Muse Spark, Meta's most powerful AI model to date and the first from the newly founded Meta Superintelligence Labs. The model will not only process text, but also understand images and will gradually be embedded in all Meta products. These include WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook & Co.
The lab itself was created because Mark Zuckerberg was dissatisfied with the progress of the previous Llama models and felt that he was falling behind OpenAI and Anthropic. To change this, he brought in outside help: Alexandr Wang, co-founder of data company Scale AI, heads Meta Superintelligence Labs - and Meta invested 14.3 billion dollars for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI.
Big ambitions, but also many questions
According to published benchmark tests, Muse Spark is competitive with leading models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, but does not outperform them across the board. And there's another catch. Unlike Meta's previous Llama models, which were freely downloadable as open-weight models, Muse Spark is primarily an in-house tool for the time being.
A special "shopping mode" shows how Meta wants to set itself apart from the competition. The model combines voice processing with data on user interests and behavior and is intended to incorporate recommendations from Instagram, Facebook and threads directly into answers in the future. That sounds practical. However, it also raises the question of where the AI function ends and the advertising platform begins.
Meta AI still cannot be switched off
What hasn't changed despite the new look is the fact that Meta AI remains embedded in WhatsApp. It should be noted that private chats are protected by end-to-end encryption, but not those sent to Meta AI. These end up directly on Meta's servers. If you want to prevent this, you can activate the "Extended chat data protection" function in individual chats. This allows Meta AI to be excluded from a specific conversation.
