WhatsApp’s redesigned Status tray could be here to stay

WhatsApp is easily one of the most widely usedmessaging apps, with millions of daily users. In addition to maintaining the app’s day-to-day operations, developers are also tasked with making necessary UI adjustments to keep things fresh. Back in February, a WhatsApp beta release showed us aredesigned Status trayinside the Updates tab, offering a small preview of the update. The Meta-owned app is now rolling out this updated preview-focused Status section to more beta testers on Android.

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This redesign has reappeared inversion 2.24.10.10of WhatsApp beta for Android, though I didn’t have any luck replicating the experience despitesideloadingthis particular version of the app. In the meantime,WABetaInfosays the update should reach more WhatsApp beta testers in the next few weeks.

whatsapp beta android status current

This suggests that the redesign is still some distance away from making the jump to the stable channel. Nevertheless, the fact that this redesigned Status tray has made two separate appearances indicates that it’s here to stay. However, it will be interesting to see how WhatsApp will counter criticism of this particular redesign.

whatsapp beta android status preview

It takes up too much space

Current WhatsApp Status tray vs the redesigned version

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As we pointed out while covering the Status preview’s first appearance in February, there’s the obvious advantage of letting users choose which updates they want to view in the Status tray. Frequent WhatsApp users know that not all status updates deserve our attention. So to get a decent preview before viewing an update makes a great deal of sense.

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