WhatsApp Status Tab Will Be Renewed Soon: What Will Change?

Many of WhatsApp’s recent changes revolve around features like channels, which were widely introduced last year.

Recent updates to the app, including the ability to share channel posts as statuses, have given us a good glimpse of what’s to come.

It looks like WhatsApp is preparing a redesign for the status section in the updates tab, which houses both status and channel posts.

New Card-Style Layout May Be Available Soon

Thanks to WABetaInfo, available in v2.24.4.23 of the WhatsApp beta version for Android, we can take a closer look at this new design of the status tab. This update basically makes the status section more prominent within the updates tab. However, the change is currently only visible to a handful of beta testers. Therefore, even having the latest version installed may not show the renewed design.

While WABetaInfo’s screenshot only shows a preview of the self-loading status, updates from your contacts appear right next to them in a card-style layout. In contrast, the status legacy design makes use of a circular icon bearing a screenshot of the user. The redesign also offers a quick preview of the status you or your contacts have posted.

One possible concern here is that these card-based status previews take up more space than the list of channel updates. However, previews are definitely the way to go for status updates so users can easily select which updates they want to view or skip. If multiple status updates have been published, users should be able to view the first one in the preview. We believe tapping the preview will open a list of other viewable updates for that person.

Since this redesign of the status tab is only included in the WhatsApp beta version, it is too early to tell whether it will make its way to the stable version of the app in the future. But considering that the refresh provides a significant improvement over the existing state previews, we hope this new design will make it to the official release.