WhatsApp is having a busy year so far. The company has been rolling out new features to its platform since past couple of weeks. Last month, the company rolled out updates to the multi-device functionality feature that enables users to link up to four smartphones with their WhatsApp accounts instead of having one smartphone and three other devices. More recently, the company rolled out Chat Lock feature to its Android and iOS apps that enables users to protect their private conversations from prying eyes by putting it under biometric lock. The Meta-owned messaging app is working on a dedicated app for Wear OS-powered smartwatches. Besides this, the company is also working on a bunch of a new features such as group calling for Mac and channels. Now, word is that the company is working making major changes to the interface of its web-based platform dubbed as WhatsApp Web. Also Read - Court blocks sacking of content moderators, holds Meta liable
According to a report by WABetaInfo, the company is working on introducing an updated chat share sheet and a redesigned emoji panel in WhatsApp Web. Also Read - Meta unveils Quest 3 mixed reality headset: But you probably can't but it yet
As of now, the paperclip icon that is placed towards the left of the message bar gives users access to the entire menu. Inside this menu, various functionalities such as ability to share a contact, attach a document, create a poll and camera among others are represented by different icons. While these icons are fairly easy to understand, but there is a possibility that the lack of more details creates confusion for a lot of users. Also Read - WhatsApp is bringing new Material You toggles to its UI design
In order to avoid this confusion, the company has redesigned the chat share sheet in a way that is more compact and shows users labels in addition to showing the icons for the specific functions.
Similarly, as of now WhatsApp users can access emojis, GIFs, and stickers by clicking on the emoji icon right next to the message bar. While the feature is easy to access and use, the emoji widget takes over half the screen, which hides most of the messages. Now, the redesigned emoji panel is sleeker, and it takes only a part of the space on the screen. Additionally, the distribution of the icons next to the message bar has been changed to make it more even. While the paperclip icon has been placed on the left side, the emoji icon has been placed on the right side in the redesigned UI of WhatsApp Web.
The blog site says that with these tweaks, the company wants to ‘improve the overall user experience by including enhancements to the app interface’.
As far as availability is concerned, as of now, this feature is available to select beta users only. The company is expected to make it available to more users in the coming months.
