A Visual Revolution in Your Pocket

WhatsApp has started to implement one of the most significant updates in recent times: a luminous green dot that appears over your contacts' profile photos when they are active on the platform. This feature, detected in the beta version for Android (2.26.24.5), eliminates the need to open each conversation to check if someone is connected, making your daily communication much more fluid.

How Does the New Presence Indicator Work?

The system is simple but highly effective. A green circle is superimposed on the contact's profile picture within the chat information screen, visually replacing the "online" text that previously appeared under the name. This aesthetic change unifies the experience with other popular messaging platforms like Telegram.

Contacts Hub: The Evolution Towards a Smart Directory

The green dot is just the first part of a more ambitious project Meta is developing: the Contacts Hub. This new exclusive section for managing contact connection status will allow you to:

• See all connected contacts in real-time.
• Sort the list alphabetically or by recent activity.
• Filter contacts based on their availability.

Redesigned Message Menu: Another Improvement on the Way

In parallel, WhatsApp is also testing a redesigned message menu on Android that modernizes chat interaction. This update, detected in beta version 2.26.23.8, introduces a contextual floating panel that appears next to the selected message, eliminating the traditional top dropdown menu.

The most common actions like reply, forward, or delete will be available with a long press, while less frequent options will be grouped in a secondary section. This development, which began approximately three years ago, has now reached the public testing phase.