We like to keep you updated on all the updates and new features that are coming to WhatsApp. Trouble is, WhatsApp very rarely makes announcements about these types of things. This means we have to scan through the beta versions of WhatsApp for iPhone and Android and use what we find there to determine what is on the way.
With this being the case, that code is sacred. We can only talk about what is in that code, or sometimes what isn’t in it. When we recently looked at the WhatsApp beta, one thing was missing that had been there before; the upcoming dark mode. The dark mode was gone from the code, Twitter wasn’t happy about it, and it led us to ponder whether we’d ever see a WhatsApp dark mode. Well, now we can put those doubts to bed.
WhatsApp dark mode is coming, and it will be called Night Mode
We’ve already seen screenshots of the upcoming dark mode, which made it all the more perplexing when it was gone from recent versions of the WhatsApp beta. The dark mode is now back in the code, however, and we have new screenshots to add to those we’ve already seen.
The WhatsApp dark mode will be called Night Mode and it looks like it is well along the development path. Night mode is already compatible with the Chats, Status, and Calls tabs on the app but there is a chance that there might still be a few aesthetic changes to come before the feature rolls out to all WhatsApp users. WABetaInfo hypothesizes that the green buttons you can see in the screenshots will change to white for example.
As well as the core features of the app, a more recent update to the WhatsApp beta has shown more WhatsApp pages and screens receiving the Night Mode treatment. WhatsApp beta version 2.19.139 has brought with it some rough night mode screens for the Contacts and Contact Info screen, and the Group Info screen
As you can see from the screenshots above, however, these still don’t look complete, which means WhatsApp still has work to do on the night mode aesthetics before regular WhatsApp users will begin to see it on their phones.
As well as aesthetics, however, it is likely that WhatsApp still has a lot of work to do on the backend of the night mode feature to ensure a bug-free experience when it finally rolls out to everyone. This is, of course, one of the major reasons apps go into beta testing before getting a full release.
Signing users up to beta programs helps developers iron out any creases from the code, while also giving them early access to new features. The flip side of this is the unstable nature of the new features. If you’re OK with this and would like to try out new WhatsApp features, like night mode, before everybody else gets them, check out our tutorial below.
