WhatsApp is now rolling out a refreshed set of chat themes for iPhone users, bringing new customization options to the messaging app, including animated wallpapers. The update arrives just two weeks after references to the theme galleries were first spotted in the app’s code.
Five New Chat Theme Categories on iOS
The redesigned theme experience organizes wallpapers into five distinct categories: Featured, Nature, Live, Minimal, and Doodle. The Featured section highlights a curated selection of the best available themes, chosen by WhatsApp’s design team. The Nature category brings outdoor landscapes to the chat screen, while Minimal applies a plain background, white in light mode and dark in dark mode. The Doodle option restores WhatsApp’s classic wallpaper with its familiar doodle patterns.
Live Wallpapers Bring Motion to Chats
The standout addition is the Live category, which features wallpapers that move slowly in the background. WhatsApp marks these themes with a small Live icon in the top-right corner of each thumbnail, making animated options easy to identify even when they appear within the Featured category.
The animation is intentionally kept slow, just enough to give the background a dynamic feel without distracting users from reading their messages. The measured pace also helps avoid discomfort for people with certain accessibility needs, making it a deliberate design decision rather than a technical constraint.
When a user selects a theme, WhatsApp automatically assigns a matching chat bubble color to complement the chosen background. As with most WhatsApp rollouts, the new themes may not appear immediately for every user, since the feature is being distributed gradually across accounts.
Source
Image: 9to5mac.com
