WhatsApp is rolling out a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.23.13.12.
What’s new in this update? WhatsApp is rolling out new icons for communities and their linked groups, and they are available to some beta testers!
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Name of the feature? | Community and group icons |
| Status? | Rolling out |
| Compatibility? | WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.13.11 and 2.23.13.12 are marked as two compatible updates. |
| I’ve installed this update but I don’t have this feature. Why? | This feature is available to some beta testers, and it is rolling out to more users over the coming days. |
| Thanks: | UnluckyTester and Elementary Pancake, for testing and reporting! |
| Previous news? | WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.13.11: what’s new? WhatsApp is working on a feature to choose how long messages stay pinned within chats and groups! |
COMMUNITY AND GROUP ICONS
After introducing community settings, that allows community admins to manage who can add groups to their communities, and a feature to allow community admins to mention groups within their community announcement groups, WhatsApp is now releasing some other minor enhancements regarding communities. In particular, after installing the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.13.12 update from the Google Play Store, some beta testers may experiment with different icons for communities and their linked groups:
As you can see in this screenshot, the differences between the old and the new version are really evident. In the screenshot representing the old version of WhatsApp, we can see that the icon for the community appears with rounded edges, so it was easy to distinguish it from other conversations. In addition, one of the groups linked to the community is displayed with multiple group icons, indicating that it is a group linked to others and that it belongs to a community.
With the latest update, WhatsApp has introduced refreshed icons for communities and their linked groups, enhancing the ability to differentiate them from other types of chats in a more intuitive way. Specifically, the community announcement group now features a megaphone icon with the community icon positioned behind it. The same concept applies to the group linked with that community, where the community icon is always visible behind the group icon. In our opinion, these changes will definitely help users promptly identify communities and their linked groups directly from the chat list, and we may also expect some more improvements regarding groups and communities in the future.
Note that these refreshed icons are only visible to certain beta testers as they are available to selected beta users that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android update from the Google Play Store. As always, they will be gradually rolled out to a wider audience in the upcoming days.
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