Whitehead's Swiftlet is marked by a deeply forked tail and dark brown upperparts. The Mindanao subspecies is darker overall.
Its tail is deeply forked, the upperparts are blackish brown, and the underside is paler brown. Subspecies A. w. origenis on Mindanao is darker overall.
Round nests collected from a tree hollow around Mount Apo on Mindanao in July were tentatively attributed to this species. They were made of plant material without saliva.
It has a bulky head, a rump as dark as the back, and unfeathered lower legs.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.