WhatsApp for Android’s beta version gets Dark Mode, but there’s a catch

Popular messaging app WhatsApp has rolled out an update to its Android beta app which upgrades it to version 2.19.82. The teardown of the WhatsApp Android beta app version 2.19.82 shows that the company has finally made a progress with Dark Mode. The much-awaited feature has popped up a few times in the past and the latest update of WhatsApp gives us the first proper look at the Dark Mode. Needless to say, this is a hint that the feature will be rolled out to more people soon.

As of now, even in the beta version, the feature is under development and not available for everyone to use. Some recent beta versions of WhatsApp also indicate that the company is also working on a new forwarding feature. We should mention that as of now, there is no official word from WhatsApp about when the Dark Mode will be launched in a stable version.

It is worth adding that this update was first found by WABetaInfo, a Twitter account that tracks changes in WhatsApp beta app. To support its claim, WABetaInfo has also published a few screenshots of the Dark Mode on WhatsApp 2.19.82 beta update. According to the tipster, as of now, WhatsApp has used the Dark Mode in Settings only and the screenshots show the new mode in data and storage settings, chats settings, notifications settings and even account settings.

The tipster has also added that the Dark Mode on Android “won’t be OLED friendly but it’s based on very dark grey colour.” As we mentioned earlier, although the feature is a part of the update, it has not been enabled yet. And because it has been disabled by default, you would not be able to see it even when you update your app to the latest 2.19.82 version of WhatsApp for Android. It is worth noticing that the company has been working Dark Mode since last year.

📝 WhatsApp beta for Android 2.19.82: what's new?
Finally there are first hidden tracks of the Dark Mode!
Screenshots in the article, exclusively for @WABetaInfo followers! 😃https://t.co/zX63MEgmkQ

NOTE: The Dark Mode is not available yet and it will be available in future.

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 26, 2019

Speaking of WhatsApp for Android version 2.19.80, two new features have been added – Forwarding Info and Frequently Forwarded. Among the two, Forwarding Info will enable users to get more details about a forwarded message and tell them how many times the message has been forwarded. On the other hand, Frequently Forwarded will show up as a label if one message has been forwarded more than four times.

To get the latest updates of WhatsApp, you can read our step-by-step guide on how to become a beta tester of the app. However, we should add that if you do this, your app will be updated a lot more than usual and not all updates are bug-free.