Abstract
- WhatsApp offers a variety of modern communication tools for free, making it a popular messaging app like Telegram and Signal.
- Recent beta tests show an upcoming UI refresh for the call screen, including a new bottom bar design and a minimize button.
- The goal of the changes is to make the app’s behavior more consistent and the iconography clearer, improving the overall user experience.
WhatsApp gives users every modern communication tool imaginable, including group chats, channel messaging, themed group interactions with communities, and voice and video calls, all for free. These features make it one of our favorite instant messaging apps on Android, just like Telegram, Signal, and Discord. We have a few complaints about Meta’s app management, and UI design updates are high on that list. WhatsApp seems to be taking note and finally refreshing the design, this time for the call screen.
10 years of WhatsApp owned by Meta: It seems like one long day
We’ve seen a lot of copy and paste over the years
Over the past few months, beta testers have noticed WhatsApp testing several interface updates, such as status previews and the draggable navigation bar that we’ve come to love. However, the call screen has remained largely unchanged since the last of several major overhauls it has received since the feature debuted in 2015.
The current user interface is displayed when a person or group participants answer your call and has several key elements, such as a central view of the profile picture (in voice calls). It’s there back button in the upper left corner and the option to add more participants to the call in the upper right corner. All other controls are available in the tab-like bottom bar.
Beta testers see a new bottom bar and buttons
WhatsApp current call screen (left); New call screen back button in WhatsApp beta (Law)
The folks at WABetaInfo recently spotted Meta beta testing the new call screen UI in version 2.23.17.16. New design replaces back button with Minimize button, to more accurately represent what happens when you touch it. It is possible that people can guess back it would also end the call, but it doesn’t, and the voice call is simply minimized to the top bar of the app.
Meanwhile, popular app feature watcher TheSpAndroid reports that he’s noticed a change in the bottom bar as well, with the Meta switching to a floating island instead of a leaf-like design. You may also notice that there is a three-dot overflow menu button that replaces the arrow in the current design. This means that WhatsApp can ditch the swipe-up gesture to expand the bottom sheet and instead shift all secondary functions to an additional menu. What’s more, each icon in the new island-style bar gets its own circular outline.
Other changes noticed on the call screen
Since the new call controls appear to float in a layer above the profile picture preview, the screenshots show that the bar will also float above the other participant’s video feed when you’re in a video call. WhatsApp has also tweaked the user interface by asking you to switch from voice to video calling. This eliminates the round buttons you had to swipe to accept and tap to decline, with pill-shaped buttons with consistent tap-to-accept/reject behavior.
The changes lead us to believe that the app’s incoming voice and video call screens may also change. Still, all of these UI changes are a step in the right direction as they make the app’s behavior consistent and the iconography better represents the button’s function. A touch of modernization is the cherry on top. We can’t wait for this design change to get out of beta testing and reach everyone in the stable channel.