Major WhatsApp redesign could make Status updates much more prominent

Two of the most enduring social media trends are the rise of the private chat and the ephemeral stories. Most people would rather not leave a permanent digital trail of their lives, and conversations are mostly out of the comment sections. Probably that’s why WhatsApp is preparing a significant change to its interface.

WhatsApp is testing a redesign that puts Status updates on top of everything

The latest Android beta version of WhatsApp comes with a significant change to how the so-called Status updates work, according to a WABetaInfo report. WhatsApp beta 2.26.6.9 shows the most recent status updates from a user’s contacts at the top of the Chats tab. The stories are shown with the profile pictures of the contacts that have updated them.

The contacts whose stories will appear in the top bar of the Chats tab are the ones that users are interacting with the most and have shared a Status update. The Updates tab can still be seen in the bottom bar, which could mean that WhatsApp won’t remove it. However, that’s an early beta of a new feature, so things could change before the final release.

What’s the same as before is that if you’ve muted status updates from a certain user in the Updates tab, its stories won’t show in the top bar. The redesign was only spotted in the Android beta, and it’s still unknown whether it will be available on iOS. 

Nothing too radical

WhatsApp is quickly moving away from being a basic chat app into a social media territory, including with that new feature. While there are still no banner ads inside the app, Meta could easily monetize people swiping through their friends’ stories, just like it does on its other apps.



Other apps have had similar features for some time now. Telegram has the same type of menu for its version of stories, and Meta’s own Messenger app has very prominent stories and notes right above the chat list. In that sense, WhatsApp’s update is far from radical.

Can we block it?

Probably many people have a love-hate relationship with WhatsApp, as it’s the default chat app in many countries across the world. I like that the app is still relatively simple, and I’d love to be able to block all the extra features as much as possible. That would leave me with a simple chat app, which is what I need 99.9% of the time I open WhatsApp.