WhatsApp has started making changes to its API on Android that will make it easier to use the popular chat app with one hand. The company first rolled out the bottom tab design to beta testers of its Android app earlier this year — the iOS version of the app already had tabs at the bottom — and the revamped interface is now rolling out to users on the stable update channel . WhatsApp also recently started testing a redesigned interface for iOS and Android, with a beta version of the app featuring new colors and accents.
After updating to WhatsApp for Android 2.23.20.76 via the Google Play Store, the new bottom tabbed interface was rolled out to several Gadgets 360 employees on Monday, while many others can still see the original navigation bar at the top, allowing you to switch between chat record, incoming call, and status tab, as well as a smaller tab with the Community icon on the left. WhatsApp first rolled out repurposed tabs to beta testers back in May.
WhatsApp’s new bottom tab interface appears to be slowly rolling out to all users
Photo credit: Screenshot/Gadgets 360
The bottom tabbed interface of WhatsApp has four tabs – chat record, renew, communityand call. These tabs also include icons – icons that were previously unavailable when the tabs were at the top of the screen. The most significant improvement to the new navigation system is that users can now easily switch to different tabs using their phone with one hand.
However, the latest update to the interface that adds bottom tabs also prevents users from swiping between tabs – the old design placed the tabs at the top of the interface, allowing users to slide their finger across the list of chats and swipe to the one they want to switch to Tab. With the bottom tab interface, users seem to have to tap to switch tabs instead of swiping.
Last week, WhatsApp started rolling out other subtle interface changes to users on its beta channel. Gadgets 360 confirmed that the iconic green bar at the top of the app on Android has been removed, replaced by an all-white interface in light mode, which in turn allows the entire app to appear dark gray when dark mode is enabled.
WhatsApp has also tweaked some of the color accents in the recently released Android beta, making greens slightly brighter and more vivid, especially when dark mode is turned on. The app’s “solid” icon was recently replaced with an “outline” icon for voice and video calls in personal chats, as well as the camera icon on the main chat list.
Svlook
