WhatsApp is testing a new message bubble design for iOS users, rounding out chat bubble corners and removing borders from shared media. The change is live in WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.29.10.70, available to some beta testers through TestFlight. WhatsApp has not issued an official statement on this redesign, and the AllBetaInfo team has not tested the build directly, so this report draws on verified beta testing community findings. The design is expanding to more accounts over the coming weeks.
What Changed in the Bubble Design
The redesign softens the shape of WhatsApp message bubbles on iOS, giving chats a rounder and more modern look. Bubble corners now carry a noticeably larger radius than the current design, which already had slightly rounded edges. The change brings WhatsApp’s iOS bubbles visually closer to the bubble style used in Apple’s own Messages app. WhatsApp has not published an explanation for the redesign, but the shift fits a broader pattern of visual updates the app has rolled out across iOS in 2026.
The current WhatsApp bubble shape on iOS has stayed largely unchanged for years, even as the app introduced new chat themes and color options. As other messaging apps refreshed their interfaces, the WhatsApp chat screen began to look dated by comparison. The rounder bubble shape addresses that gap directly, aligning the chat interface with what iOS users now expect from a modern messaging app without altering how the app functions underneath, according to independent reporting on the redesign.
How Shared Media Looks Now
Shared photos, videos, and GIFs no longer display inside a traditional bordered bubble under the new design. WhatsApp still presents media in a bubble like shape, but the surrounding border has been removed for a cleaner, more integrated look. This frameless treatment applies to individual media messages sent in one to one chats, letting photos and videos sit closer to the rest of the conversation rather than being visually boxed off from it.
The frameless style does not apply universally across every chat type. In group chats, WhatsApp still shows a small header above shared photos or videos that identifies who sent the file. Forwarded messages carry the same treatment, with a header noting that the content originated in another chat. Because this identifying header remains visible in both cases, the frameless look only applies partially in group and forwarded contexts, while one to one media shares get the fully borderless treatment.
Who Has Access Right Now
The new bubble design is currently available to some beta testers running WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.29.10.70 through TestFlight. This version follows an earlier sighting of the same redesign concept in WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.18.10.71, when the feature was still in early development and not yet available to any testers. WhatsApp has moved the feature from that developing stage into a limited beta rollout with the newer build.
A staged rollout of this kind typically means the design does not appear for every TestFlight user at once, even after installing the latest beta. Some accounts on the current stable App Store version have also reportedly started seeing elements of the new bubble shape, according to a separate account of the rollout, suggesting the change is being tested outside the TestFlight channel as well. WhatsApp has given no indication of when the redesign might reach all beta testers or move into a stable release.
Part of a Bigger iOS Redesign
This bubble redesign lands alongside a separate visual overhaul WhatsApp has been rolling out to the iOS chat interface throughout 2026, built around Apple’s Liquid Glass design language. That earlier redesign brought a translucent, floating chat bar and a transparent navigation bar to the conversation screen, following similar Liquid Glass updates to the chat list and Updates tab. Together, the two redesigns touch nearly every visual element of the WhatsApp chat screen on iOS.
WhatsApp has not linked the bubble redesign and the Liquid Glass rollout in any statement, and the two appear to be separate development tracks that happen to be reaching testers around the same period. For iOS users tracking WhatsApp’s design changes this year, the rounder bubbles are the latest piece in a chat interface that already looks substantially different from the version WhatsApp shipped at the start of 2026.
Conclusion
WhatsApp has not confirmed a timeline for expanding the message bubble redesign beyond its current limited beta rollout on iOS 26.29.10.70. Based on how the app has staged similar visual changes this year, wider availability to all beta testers would likely arrive in a following TestFlight build before any move toward a stable App Store release.
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