For a few years after its inception, WhatsApp relied on its established signature features to separate it from the pack. Over time, as other encrypted messengers slowly caught up, it adopted a slew of new features to keep up with the ever-changing user demands. Meta’s messaging app may have started a little closed in, ideal for individual users, but it has now evolved into a place for companies and enthusiasts thanks to added functionality like WhatsApp Communities. Some of these features are even threatening the place of large social media companies as the landscape evolves.

Some landmark features, like the UI colors and icons, have remained largely constant through all the updates. But there’s an ongoing overhaul to transform the overall appearance of WhatsApp’s UI. Soon, the app will ditch its familiar user interface for a modernized one, though Material You dynamic theming support does not appear to be in the cards. While the official date of the update remains vague, the changes are currently underway as the messaging giant conducts some test runs.

As reported by WABetaInfo, the latest beta gives us a glimpse of the UI facelift’s path. We had previously seen the main chat list receive the makeover, but this update includes many new UI elements the publication managed to activate. WhatsApp for Android version 2.23.20.10 beta showcases a predominantly colorless top bar on both the home screen and within chats — a change many apps made years ago with the popularization of dark mode, as colorful action bars would sometimes conflict with either the dark gray or white background.

A closer inspection reveals several new UI enhancements in the works. The bottom bar in dark mode is a slightly lighter gray than the rest of the UI, giving it some separation from both the chat list and conversations themselves. What’s more, the updates will bring in refurbished chat bubbles for dark theme users and redesign the floating action button. Compared to the last time we saw this work-in-progress interface, the three-dot overflow menu button has been removed, though we’re not sure if it will stay that way.

While the updates spotted today are targeting the Android app, iPhone users will not be left out. However, that version of the app might end up with slightly different UI elements more suited to iOS, depending on the outcome of the experiments and the company’s desires.

This isn’t the only change WhatsApp has recently undergone. Earlier this week, WABetaInfo also reported that Meta had began work on a new feature that will allow users to reply to updates from Channels, which are otherwise designed as a one-to-many messaging solution. While most Channel messages function like an influencer tweeting to their followers, this update will essentially enable a comments section for those broadcasted messages.

These updates show the expansion and customization of the messaging service into something more inclusive. While we loved the “closed-in” WhatsApp, we wouldn’t mind interacting with celebrities through a polished new interface. Apparently, WhatsApp is all out to craft a refined, fancy, and feature-rich messaging app. It may have a few more updates in store, so keep it here.