WhatsApp has been quickly adding a lot of new features and improvements to its smartphone and desktop apps. Over the past year, the company made it easier to transfer data from one phone to another across operating systems and added the ability to edit messages. Now, the company is testing a tweaked UI design for chats.
WABetaInfo is reporting that WhatsApp is testing a full-width design for message bubbles in chat threads. This design spreads messages across the width of the screen, fitting more content within the same height. However, the catch is that such full-width messages are only visible in Community threads and in group chats where only admins can post messages. Since only one sender can send messages in such threads and groups, it is better to spread content across the entire width of a phone's screen.
This new UI is visible in WhatsApp Beta for Android (version 2.23.15.4), which is available to users who have registered themselves to test beta versions of the app. Moreover, only some beta testers are seeing this new UI. It could be released to more beta testers over the coming weeks before releasing it to all WhatsApp users worldwide.
The new full-width message bubble design will also be available on the iPhone in the near future. WhatsApp has been bringing a lot of features to group chats and the Communities feature that was announced recently. It will soon roll out a new feature that lets you send 4K images and Full HD videos rather than compressed, low-resolution media files.
