WhatsApp has finally decided to bring chat-specific theming support to the Android version of the app. Theming has always been available on WhatsApp for Android, but this was quite limited and also basically involved changing the background wallpaper of the said chat. A new interface with the ability to set a chat-specific theme has now been spotted online and adds some much-needed customisation, like Facebook’s Messenger app. Facebook’s Messenger has had chat-specific themes for a long time, so it’s a bit odd as to why it took so long to bring it to WhatsApp.
To be clear, the new theme interface and chat-specific themes are only available on the beta version of WhatsApp for Android for now. WABetaInfo, in a post, has released a few screenshots (seen in the above image) that shows an interface for theme selection which is very different from the one that’s currently available on Android devices.
Whenever WhatsApp decides to release a new update, users will be able to select from 20 Chat colours and up to 22 textured Chat themes. All of these themes will have preset chat colours for chat bubbles (different for sender and receiver), adding a new level of personalisation to chats. These themes, unlike what’s available currently, will also be chat-specific. So, just like changing wallpapers, users will be able to choose and set a specific theme for each and every chat.
The feature was recently spotted on the beta version of WhatsApp for iOS. Feature-wise, both versions of the app remain the same. Given that the feature did arrive earlier on the iOS version of WhatsApp, there is a good chance that it may appear on the release version of iOS before showing up on Android.
More recently, it was revealed that Google’s Gemini virtual assistant on Android will soon be capable of sending messages via voice commands. The feature is currently available when using Google Assistant, which is gradually being replaced by Gemini. Just like chat-specific theming, Gemini integration too is still being tested.
