WhatsApp beta shows a floating navigation bar on Android, with Meta AI moved inside it
The redesigned bar was spotted in beta 2.26.38.10 and has not been switched on for testers yet.
The row of buttons at the bottom of WhatsApp on Android is being rebuilt, and the Meta AI shortcut is moving into it. Today that shortcut floats as a separate button above the Compose button. Images from a new beta build appear to show it sitting in the navigation bar itself, alongside the other destinations.
The bar is changing shape at the same time. Rather than running flush against the bottom edge of the screen, it appears as a separate floating box with rounded corners, more oval than the current version and more transparent.
WABetaInfo, which found the redesign in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.38.10 on the Google Play Store, says the new bar looks similar to the tab bar already used by WhatsApp on iOS, though the design may change and evolve as development continues. So this is early work.
That family resemblance to iOS does not mean the translucent effect from the iPhone app is coming to Android as well.
Both themes are being tested. WABetaInfo says the change is easier to see under the light theme than the dark one, which may itself change as the work goes on, and a dark mode version of the redesigned bar is part of the plan.
There is history here. WhatsApp first put a bottom navigation bar into the Android app back in 2023, in beta 2.23.10.6, and three years later it is getting another new look.
Testers who install the beta will not see any of this immediately, because WhatsApp has not enabled the redesigned bar for them. The report that surfaced the images cautions that development could still run many more weeks before the design is ready for a public release.
Published by Techtutka ·