Windows 11 user? Your WhatsApp has been changed; Check out the EXTRA parts

There is a WhatsApp UWP beta app in town which is supposed to work better on desktop. The UWP or Universal Windows Platform app for WhatsApp has been available to download for some time and now it is going to get an update that will see it adopt Windows 11 design elements.

The UWP version, unlike the desktop version of WhatsApp or WhatsApp web, is a WinUI based application that is written in XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language). It allows the interface to be scalable and work on all platforms running Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Earlier the WhatsApp UWP beta app was using the older interface of Windows 10, that made it look a little out of place and lowered the response time a bit. But that all has changed with this new update that arrived this week. The new version has adopted the Windows 11 native UI and now users can see added functionalities of deleting messages for yourself or for everyone, which already existed in the native android application.

What’s new in the WhatsApp UWP beta update

The update is a minor release but it changes quite a lot of design elements in the existing beta. With this new update, users will finally be able to see WinUI 2.6 controls. One significant change that came out of it is the new notification and account page that highlights controls similar to Windows 11. For example, now users will be able to change notification tones for chats and groups separately. Additionally, they will also see visually consistent options for turning off notifications. For comparison, the WhatsApp web version does not have these functionalities.

There are similar changes for the dialog box, voice call and video call interface. Yes, users of this app will be able to make voice or video calls, another feature missing in the WhatsApp web version. The new design change is visible all across WhatsApp UWP beta version and users will notice the better aesthetic appeal of the application.

However, there has not been any new feature release in this update and the main focus was only to implement the new design language. Windows 11 follows a transparent acrylic effect which is also visible in this update.

WhatsApp UWP beta is a step in the direction to make the application universally accessible and not limited to smartphones. The UWP app supports background synchronization and the notifications from the messaging app appear on Windows’ Action center with multiple options to respond.

A thing to remember is that the WhatsApp UWP beta is still in development so the experience may not have a seamless feel to it even as it is faster than the WhatsApp web version.