WhatsApp Rolls Out Privacy Features, Bottom Navigation Bar With New UI to Beta Testers: Details

WhatsApp is reportedly planning to add several new features with new Android updates. These features include the ability to silence unknown callers, a new UI with a bottom navigation bar, creating single-vote polls, and more. While some of these features have only rolled out in the beta update for select beta testers, others updates have already been started rolling out globally. The instant messaging platform is testing a WhatsApp for iOS-like feature for Android apps, by placing the icons in a bottom navigation bar.

It was reported in March this year that WhatsApp was seen working on a feature to prevent unknown callers by silencing their calls. Now, it seems that the company has progressed a bit with the feature. According to a WABetaInfo report, the app has introduced this feature with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.10.7 update. This allows beta testers to silence unknown calls on the app. The toggle to put unknown callers on silent mode is available right within Settings > Privacy. Users can enable this toggle and mute calls from potentially spam phone numbers. However, these calls will still be visible in the Calls log and in the notification tab. To access the feature, users can install the latest version of WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.10.7 update from the Google Play Store.

Meanwhile, the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.10.6 update comes with a new user interface that provides Android users with an iPhone-like bottom navigation bar. The Meta-owned messaging service is reportedly testing a new interface for the app which will have a bottom navigation bar, similar to WhatsApp for iOS, enabling users to easily switch between different tabs. It is currently available to select beta testers only and will be gradually available to more users.

WhatsApp also announced a couple of more features like creating single-vote polls, searching for polls in chats using filters, and getting notifications when people vote on polls. Meta in its blog post said that the new updates for polls will help users gather data and make decisions conveniently. With single-vote polls, users will not be able to change their answers after deciding their vote on a poll once. Meanwhile, it will be easy to look for specific polls, just like images and videos, by searching for them using a filter. Moreover, a user can also get notifications whenever someone votes in the poll for keeping an easy tab on the results.

Furthermore, WhatsApp users will also be able to forward media with already-available captions or add captions to documents when sharing. Users can also add a caption to documents like a newspaper article or a working document before sharing. The features are rolling out globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.