This is the new design, with a renewed dark mode

The most popular instant messaging application in Europe, WhatsApp, is also the most recognizable. The brand’s signature green color is hard to confuse, and there’s no shortage of apps that have attempted to copy it. For this reason, the latest update received by WhatsApp is perhaps one of the most controversial to date, although in reality it has not changed much.

And, starting today, WhatsApp users around the world You will start to see the new design when you open the app; The change is made at the server level, so we don’t have to do anything to get the new design, just make sure we have updated the app to the latest version available.

A warning: when we open WhatsApp, it can be difficult for us to adjust to what we see. The new design retains the spirit of WhatsApp, but also adopts a new design philosophy which may require a little patience from the user. The good news is that the redesign comes with some important new features.

This is the new WhatsApp

The first thing that will catch our attention in the redesign is how the interface has been simplified; This is especially noticeable if we use light mode, as we will see that the top of the app is no longer solid green. The entire app is now the same white colorand the different green tones are only visible in certain parts such as the application name or the icons.

The new color palette means that dark mode has also completely changed

, and this is very good news if you own a cell phone with an OLED screen. The old dark mode wasn’t actually black, but instead used a dark blue tone; this has changed, with a high contrast design and darker tones (although it’s not completely black yet). The goal is to reduce eye fatigue, especially if we use WhatsApp at night.

Meta states that he wanted “the product looked fresher and more modern”, hence the commitment to cleaner lines and more basic colors. Another goal was to better adapt WhatsApp to the operating system, whether the latest versions of Android or iOS.

On Android, the big news is in the new bottom bar, which hosts the different parts of the application. Each button takes us to a section: discussions do not need to be presented, while news takes us to states and channels, while communities get direct access. Finally, we have WhatsApp calls. The top part is now cleaner, making room for chat filters, which allow us to display only chats that are not read or only groups.

Finally, the design of the application has been simplified so that easier to add new features in the future. Meta claims that this was one of the big motivations behind this redesign, implying that over the next few months more new features will arrive that will allow more things to be done in the WhatsApp app.