Last week, WhatsApp was spotted working on a redesigned emoji keyboard along with some minor UI tweaks in chats. It appears the company has quickly wrapped up the development work. It is now rolling out the changes to some beta users. The latest beta version (2.23.12.13) of the app also brings new community settings.
This update brings significant changes to WhatsApp’s emoji keyboard. We now have a capsule at the top with three sections to quickly switch between emojis, GIFs, and stickers/avatars. Below it is a row of recently-used emojis, followed by the full emoji collection divided into categories. While you can tap on the category header in the bottom row to quickly jump to any emoji category, WhatsApp also lets you pull up the keyboard for a vertically scrollable “almost” full-screen layout.
The changes make it easier to find emojis, GIFs, and stickers in WhatsApp. The messaging app has also repositioned some buttons in the chat screen, including the emoji button in the compose field. It now sits beside the camera button on the right side instead of the left, swapping positions with the paperclip icon for attachments. The latter, meanwhile, has been redesigned to a “plus” icon. When viewing emojis, a keyboard button replaces the emoji button in the compose field. It lets you switch back to the text keyboard.

The latest WhatsApp beta also brings new community settings
Elsewhere, this beta update for WhatsApp brings new “Community Settings”. It lets community admins decide who can add new groups to the community: all members or admins only. By default, only admins can add new groups. So this change gives community admins the flexibility to allow members to add new groups. They still have the power to remove groups anytime, though. “Community admins may not be in these groups, but they can remove them from the community anytime,” WhatsApp notes (via).
This feature isn’t available to any of us here at Android Headlines with WhatsApp beta version 2.23.12.13, though the redesigned emoji keyboard has shown up on a few devices. This suggests a limited rollout. The company may expand it to more beta users in the coming weeks before eventually bringing it to the public. If you’re interested in joining WhatsApp’s beta program, you can sign up here.
If not, you will have to wait until the company pushes these changes to the stable version. You can click the button below to download the latest version of WhatsApp from the Google Play Store.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com