Liquid Glass is Apple’s design language introduced with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, built around translucent surfaces, floating elements, and fluid animations that respond to touch and scrolling. WhatsApp began adapting its iPhone app to this style back in October, with a broader rollout following several months later. The iPad version has been playing catch-up ever since, and it’s now finally getting its own version of the same visual treatment.
What’s New on the iPad App
The redesign brings several noticeable changes specifically tailored to the iPad’s larger screen and layout.
Here’s what’s included so far:
– A floating tab bar that sits above the interface as a semi-transparent panel instead of sitting flush against the bottom edge
– A navigation bar that gradually becomes more transparent as you scroll through your chat list, letting content show through underneath
– Buttons and context menus that now use the same frosted glass appearance, complete with smooth animations when tapped
– A floating Chats sidebar, a feature unique to the iPad version that adapts the layout to take advantage of the larger screen
One small but notable detail: unlike the iPhone version, the iPad’s tab bar currently shows icons only, without text labels underneath them.
What Hasn’t Changed Yet
It’s worth being clear about what this update does not include just yet. The chat screen itself, meaning the message input bar and the navigation bar you see while inside an actual conversation, still uses the older design on iPad for now. That particular update has already reached some iPhone users in a separate beta build, but it hasn’t made its way to iPad as of this rollout.
This means the redesign on iPad is still a partial rollout rather than a complete overhaul, with more pieces expected to follow in future updates.
How to Get Access
Right now, access to the new look is limited mainly to people using the WhatsApp beta on iPadOS, though some users on the stable version of the app may also start seeing it appear. WhatsApp has not announced an official date for when the design will be available to everyone.
If you’re eager to try it early, joining the beta program through TestFlight is currently the most reliable way to get access, keeping in mind that availability can still vary even within the beta group.
