WhatsApp is rolling out a new chat theme experience for Android, giving users more ways to customise the look and feel of their conversations.
The update introduces five categories for chat themes: Featured, Nature, Live, Minimal and Doodle, along with a redesigned wallpaper section.
The feature is currently available to some Android beta testers and is being rolled out gradually.
The new system brings Android in line with the theme structure recently introduced on iOS.
The Featured category brings together selected themes from across the collection, while Nature includes outdoor scenes such as forests, mountains, deserts and coastal landscapes.
The Live category adds slowly animated wallpapers, while Minimal offers simpler backgrounds without patterns or other distracting elements.
The Doodle category uses the familiar patterned design associated with WhatsApp’s traditional wallpaper.
WhatsApp is also separating wallpapers from full chat themes, allowing users to choose a background without applying an entire theme.
The wallpaper section includes categories such as Vibrant and Gradient, offering brighter designs and smooth colour transitions.
Users can also continue to select images from their phone’s gallery or create wallpapers using AI.
The Live category is available for both themes and wallpapers.
The animations are deliberately slow, with WhatsApp aiming to add movement without making messages difficult to read.
Live wallpapers also carry a small badge on their thumbnails so users can identify them before applying one.
The app automatically selects a message bubble colour based on the chosen theme or wallpaper.
The aim is to maintain sufficient contrast between messages and the background. Users can still manually select a different bubble colour if they prefer.
The new themes were spotted in WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.26.37.6 and are currently available to some beta testers through the Google Play Store.
WhatsApp is releasing the feature gradually, meaning not every beta user will see the new categories immediately.
The company has not announced a specific date for when the updated theme experience will be available to all Android users.
