Whatsapp UI 2021 updates, you might have missed.
Whatsapp is releasing new UI changes for its phone app. In case you missed them, here’s a rundown of the changes that caught my eye.
Rounded corners have been a design trend for a long time. The roundness of an element creates a softness that is pleasing to the observer. This is why people enjoy rounded buttons and rounded corners in their components, and this is how rounded corners made their way into the realm of UI Design. Whatsapp has attempted to include this in its most recent UI updates.
(i) The color and size contrast between the “type a status” and “add a photo as story” icons draw attention to each icon and clearly distinguishes its function.
(ii) When an icon is instantly perceivable to all visitors, it becomes accessible. The “add call” icon under recent calls provides a similar purpose, allowing users to quickly add a call without having to browse endlessly through the list to discover the name.
(iii) Since photo sharing is such an essential feature of WhatsApp, making it more apparent by simply placing a “camera icon” on the home screen makes it a lot more accessible and user-friendly.
In the beta version of the app, Whatsapp decided to remove the divider lines between chats. Even though the UI seems cleaner without it, the line separators really assisted many users in distinguishing distinct conversation cells. We may or may not see the upgrade in the final version, since this is still an experiment from the Beta version.
Whatsapp’s archived box has been relocated to the top of all chats. Users have varied views about this; some individuals archive talks in order to hide them, while others archive chats just to clear up some clutter. Even if a new message from an archived conversation arrives, the new archive specification keeps the chats archived. This feature may be altered by disabling the “Keep Chats Archived” option in the Archive settings. The Archived box will vanish from the top of the screen when you disable it.
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Whatsapp intends to release additional UI improvements in the future, so we’ll have to be on the lookout for them.👀
