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WhatsApp Tests Floating Bottom Navigation Bar on Android

The redesign borrows the iPhone-style floating tab idea while following Android design rules and has no confirmed public release date.

Overview

  • Trackers at WABetaInfo found a rounded, floating navigation bar in recent WhatsApp beta builds, with the change visible in both light and dark themes.
  • The element creates a raised, separated row of tabs at the bottom of the screen without changing how users move between Chats, Communities, Updates and Calls.
  • The Android version adapts the iOS floating tab concept to Google’s design conventions and currently lacks the translucent Liquid Glass look used on iPhone.
  • The redesign appeared in beta build 2.26.38.10, but WhatsApp has not broadly enabled it for testers and has given no timeline for wider rollout.
  • WhatsApp often tests interface changes in staged betas that can take weeks or months to reach users or be dropped, so the final spacing, shape or availability could still change.