WhatsApp Tests Liquid Glass Chat Redesign

WhatsApp is testing a major redesign of its in-chat interface under a new visual style called Liquid Glass, featuring translucent elements, smooth animations, and layered effects to create a more modern and fluid user experience.

The update introduces a floating chat bar and a semi-transparent navigation bar with subtle depth, shadows, and blur effects, resembling see-through glass. These changes aim to enhance readability, improve navigation, and provide clearer visual separation between message bubbles, backgrounds, media, and controls. Reports indicate the design aligns with contemporary mobile operating system aesthetics, making interactions feel less crowded and more intuitive.

Development of the Liquid Glass look began last year with initial tests on the bottom navigation bar and elements of the main Chats screen. The rollout has proceeded slowly, reaching some beta users for those components and later updating features like the voice message player. Now, the redesign is expanding to the full in-chat screen, though it remains unavailable even to most beta testers on iOS via TestFlight. Developers have activated the interface in testing, but Meta appears to be taking a...