A handy navigation bar has been added to WhatsApp for Android users in an update that has been released. The goal of this redesign is to improve the app’s usability by streamlining navigation and facilitating access to new messages and other capabilities offered by the chat platform owned by Meta. In addition, the upgrade ensures a unified appearance with the rest of the operating system by adhering to Android’s Material Design standards.

FINALLY, YOU CAN GET THE NAVIGATION BAR ON WHATSAPP FOR ANDROID

According to a company announcement on X, the functionality has been in beta testing for some time and is now formally being rolled out to the stable version of WhatsApp. This implies that the app’s improved navigation will now be available to all users. The navigation bar had a bumpy road to formal release; it first showed up in the app’s beta version in June then vanished a short while later. It reappeared in September, vanished once more, and then reappeared in the beta channel around a week ago.

The four tabs in the navigation bar, Chats, Updates, Communities, and Calls, correspond to the primary features of the application. Formerly, Communities were smaller and less obvious on the menu, with Chats, Updates, and Calls receiving more attention.

The redesigned bottom navigation bar is “easier on the eyes and closer to your thumbs,” according to WhatsApp. It’s becoming more usual to navigate apps using a bottom menu, and it makes sense—especially on larger phones where it can be challenging to reach the top of the screen. Navigating quickly and effectively is made possible by the buttons at the bottom.

The new menu bar is already available to WhatsApp users. To begin using the app, just download the most recent version to your device.

Additional new features that are coming to WhatsApp have been discovered by beta testers. One of these is a new feature on the Chats page called Suggested Contacts, which provides a quick method to find people you might know.

Go to the Google Play app store website for WhatsApp if you’d like to check out the latest features in the beta version of the app. Nevertheless, it currently signals that WhatsApp is not taking on any more testers as the beta program is full. To find out if you may join later, you might wish to bookmark the page and return later.