WhatsApp Liquid Glass Design on iPad: Beta Access and Key Changes

WhatsApp is testing its Liquid Glass redesign on the iPad for the first time, bringing the translucent, layered interface that iPhone users have had for months to iPadOS 26. The tab bar, navigation bar, and buttons are all updated. The chat screen, the part of the app people spend the most time in, has not yet arrived on iPad, though it has already appeared in iPhone beta builds.

Access is narrow. Only some beta testers running iPadOS 26 can see any of the redesign right now, with expansion expected over the coming weeks and no public timeline for a general release, according to WABetaInfo.

Who can see the WhatsApp beta iPad Liquid Glass redesign right now

Most iPad users will open WhatsApp today and see nothing different. That's consistent with how every prior phase of this redesign has been handled.

WABetaInfo describes current iPad availability as open to "some users," with expansion planned over coming weeks. 9to5Mac characterized access as "very limited," language that tracks with the pattern on iPhone, where the rollout followed the same slow, staged approach.

The iPhone timeline is instructive. WhatsApp's Liquid Glass redesign on iOS began last October, and a broader rollout only started last month, 9to5Mac noted. Even then, the feature still hadn't reached all iPhone users as of early May. WABetaInfo suggested that WhatsApp appeared to be holding back full distribution until more interface elements fully supported the new design language, which would also explain why iPad is only now receiving a redesign that iPhone users have been living with for months.

WhatsApp rolls out Liquid Glass changes separately per platform, as WABetaInfo documented. Each platform is treated as its own distinct project, with monitoring and refinement before access widens. iPad getting its first version now, while the iPhone rollout is still not fully complete, fits that pattern exactly.

The staged approach also reflects how WhatsApp has managed internal consistency. On iPhone, WABetaInfo reported in early May that the company appeared to be gating broader access until more elements, including the chat interface, were ready to carry the new design language. Rolling out a partially redesigned app risks a jarring experience where some screens look modern and others don't. That calculation seems to be shaping the iPad timeline too.

What the WhatsApp iPad app Liquid Glass redesign actually changes

The most immediate change on iPad is the tab bar. Instead of sitting flush against the bottom edge of the screen, it now floats above the interface as a semi-transparent panel, as WABetaInfo documented this week. One detail separates the iPad version from iPhone: the iPad tab bar omits text labels beneath the icons. The two versions are not identical, and that's worth knowing before comparing screenshots.

The navigation bar at the top responds to scrolling. As users move through their chat list, it becomes progressively more transparent, letting conversation content underneath show through, per WABetaInfo. A subtle fade effect keeps wallpaper and messages faintly visible rather than fully exposed, creating a sense of layered depth rather than a flat color bar sitting over the content.

Buttons throughout the app now carry the frosted glass appearance already established on iPhone, responding with fluid animations when tapped. The context menu picks up the same translucent style, according to 9to5Mac. Taken together, the tab bar, navigation bar, buttons, and context menu now share a visual language where previously they didn't.

The Liquid Glass aesthetic itself is built on translucency and layered depth, aligning with the broader iPadOS 26 design direction, as WABetaInfo described. Semi-transparent elements stack against one another rather than presenting as flat, opaque surfaces. On a larger iPad display, where the eye has more room to register these depth cues, the effect is more pronounced than on iPhone.

It's also worth noting what the iPad version includes that the iPhone version didn't have at launch: a floating Chats sidebar, as 9to5Mac noted, which picks up the Liquid Glass treatment alongside the tabs and buttons. That sidebar is iPad-specific, a reflection of how the two interfaces diverge at the layout level even while sharing the same design language.

What's still missing, and what's next for iPad

The chat screen hasn't caught up yet. The message input area at the bottom of a conversation and the navigation bar inside conversations both remain in their older style for iPad beta testers.

On iPhone, a separate build documented this week by WABetaInfo replaces the fixed, opaque chat bar with a floating translucent one and makes the conversation navigation bar transparent, with the same fade treatment used elsewhere in the app. That update is live for some iPhone users. It has not yet reached iPad. WABetaInfo described this as the chat screen "catching up with the rest of the app," which is precisely the gap that remains open on iPad.

The chat bar update on iPhone goes further than just aesthetics. The bar itself becomes a floating element with a translucent, glass-like background that reflects and refracts what sits behind it, per WABetaInfo's earlier reporting from two months ago. Even the quick-jump button for scrolling to the latest message in a conversation is being updated to carry the same Liquid Glass treatment. That level of detail signals that the chat screen redesign is meant to be thorough, not a superficial pass.

A Mac version of the Liquid Glass redesign remains in separate development. 9to5Mac reported this week that while iPad testing has begun, Mac is its own distinct project running in parallel.

WhatsApp has given no public timeline for a general iPad release. Based on the iPhone rollout, which started in October last year and still hasn't reached all users eight months later, the iPad beta is realistically the beginning of a long arc, not the final stretch. The chat screen is still the missing piece, and until it catches up, the redesign on iPad remains a work in progress.