WhatsApp is trying a different bottom tab bar on Android: it hovers clear of the screen edges, and when you scroll down your chat list it collapses into a small pill.
Only some beta testers have it, in version 2.26.45.5 of the beta. WhatsApp has not announced the design, so it could change or never ship.
The WhatsApp tracker WABetaInfo found the redesign in the build and tried it. The four icons are unchanged, but a round marker now sits behind whichever tab is open, replacing the earlier oval. A blur under the bar lets chats slide out of sight behind it.
The bar reacts to your thumb. Push the list upward and it narrows and flattens bit by bit, leaving just the icons. Drag back down and it widens again. On a small phone that frees a few extra lines of chat.
The same beta has been reshuffling the bar’s contents. A Contacts tab takes the place of Communities, with a filter in the chat list covering communities instead. The Instants camera for disappearing photos is being tested in the same builds.
Other tests in the same week of builds include a Location option for Status, which posts your position as a map card, and text stickers, where the number of designs goes from 5 to 10. None of these changes how you message today, but together they show an app tidying its main screen.
Beta features can take weeks to reach the stable app, and some never do. A stable release that includes the new bar would show it is heading to everyone.
