WhatsApp has announced a new bottom navigation bar for Android users, replacing the old top navigation bar with four tabs namely Community, Chats, Status and Calls.
The new navigation bar is “closer to your thumb and easier to see” and also contains four sections: Community, Chat, Status and Calls. However, their order has been changed and the status is now called “Updated”. Additionally, all four sections now have icons. Previously, only the Community tab had an icon. Also, the old navigation bar was green, while the new one is white.
Old Navigation Bar • New Navigation Bar
WhatsApp says it has “changed a few things to make it easier to access the content you need, when you need it”. This makes sense, because while you can still switch between the four sections by swiping left or right on the screen, you don’t have to reach your thumb into the screen if you want to open a non-adjacent tab The top, because the navigation bar is now closer to your thumb, allows you to switch between tabs by clicking on the tab’s icon.
We’ve had this new navigation bar on multiple Android devices in India for about a few weeks now, but with an official announcement, WhatsApp is now rolling it out to users globally. If you haven’t received it yet, update the WhatsApp app on your Android device to the latest version from the Google Play Store.