Notification icons not showing profile picture on my MacBook Pro after macOS Sequoia update

Hi,

After updating to 15.1, I’ve noticed that notifications from messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messages no longer show the sender’s profile picture in the banner. Instead, they only display the app’s icon. Previously, in macOS Sonoma, the sender’s profile picture appeared in the banner, which was more helpful for quickly identifying messages. (as they still do in iOS).

I’ve tried various troubleshooting measures, such as checking notification settings (MacOS - privacy banners, enabled everything, WhatsApp settings - enabled everything), updating/reinstalling the app, and ensuring macOS is up to date, but none of them resolved the issue.

I’ve attached a screenshot of WhatsApp notifications for reference.

Is this a new design choice in macOS Sequoia, or is it an issue that can be resolved through settings or app updates? For reference, Signal would also show the app icon and the name of the person, but WhatsApp & Messages would show the profile picture of the user, the name of the user and a very small tiny WhatsApp logo embedded in it (bottom right). Would appreciate any insights!

Thanks in advance!

Sayon

[Re-Titled by Moderator]