WhatsApp is working on a new set of chat themes. The new expansion will include three new categories, with one dedicated to animated wallpapers. Users will be able to choose the theme that best fits their preferences.
| Key points | Details |
|---|---|
| Feature: | New chat themes |
| Feature availability: | Some features may be under development, so they are not available to beta testers. Others may become available to users over time. If you're unable to access a certain feature, you will need to wait for a future update. |
| News shared last week: | WhatsApp launches voice and video calls on the Web! |
| Previous article: | WhatsApp is bringing parental controls to iOS settings! |
Weekly WhatsApp beta updates: new features and improvements
This new weekly roundup brings together all the latest updates about WhatsApp beta shared this week. As a result, you can finally catch up on everything you might have missed from our past announcements. You can consider this summary as a way to keep up new features, improvements, and fixes. This week's highlight focuses on chat themes, a new expansion that makes it easier for users to find the theme they prefer for their conversations. See what else we announced this week.
WhatsApp upgrades group chats with new features
WhatsApp announced three new features for group chats, making it easier for users to communicate and coordinate with other group members.
- Improved polls: users can now set an end time for polls, hide voter names, and edit the poll question within 15 minutes of sending it.
- @all mentions: it is finally possible to mention everyone in a group at once. In groups with more than 32 members, only admins can use this feature, while any member can use it in smaller groups.
- New group creation tool: users can now quickly create a new group with people from an existing group, making it easier to start a separate conversation without adding members one by one.
WhatsApp is working on new chat themes on Android
WhatsApp is exploring a new set of chat themes on Android. This expansion groups chat themes into three distinct categories. The Featured category allows users to set themes with animated wallpapers. Themes in the Doodle category use the official WhatsApp doodle wallpapers that long-time users will immediately recognize. Instead, the Minimal category applies a while or dark theme for a more simple interface. These themes will still apply the bubble color automatically.
WhatsApp launches update controls on Mac
WhatsApp is making it easier for beta testers to get the build that meets their needs. Specifically, WhatsApp is adding a new section where users can control how the app updates on Mac. Users can choose between two different options: latest version and stable weekly build. By selecting "latest version", WhatsApp will always download the most updated build. However, it may include some occasional bugs. Instead, the stable weekly version allows users to experiment with a more stable experience.
WhatsApp introduces new alert to unmute channels
When you follow a new channel, WhatsApp mutes it by default. Nobody wants to receive many notifications from channels, and WhatsApp knows it. However, WhatsApp is now introducing a new alert that makes this behavior more visible to users. The alert encourages users to enable notifications if they want to receive alerts about new updates. Users can still keep notifications disabled.
WhatsApp launches new section for parental controls
Back in March, WhatsApp released parental controls. With this feature, parents can easily manage their child's WhatsApp account while respecting the privacy of their messages. To make this feature more visible, WhatsApp is not introducing a dedicated section for parental controls in the app settings. Here, parents can set up and link both accounts.
WhatsApp to test label that flags AI content
WhatsApp is building a tool that helps channel admins label their updates as AI-generated. Some regions have legislation that requires users to mark their content as generated by AI. This would reinforce transparency since users can know that they are interacting with content powered by AI. In a future update, channel admins will be able to manually label such content.
Connect with WABetaInfo
Follow WABetaInfo on X and visit our About page to learn more about what we do. We always appreciate your feedback on posts like this one.