WhatsApp Brings a Desktop-Style Sidebar to the iPad App
The messaging platform is shifting away from phone-style navigation on tablets, adopting a layout that mirrors its desktop experience to better utilize larger screens.
WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a significant redesign for its iPad application, moving away from the traditional bottom tab bar that mimics the iPhone layout. This update introduces a vertical sidebar on the left side of the screen, a design choice that aligns the tablet experience more closely with the app’s desktop version for Mac. The change follows several months of beta testing aimed at adapting the new visual style to larger displays.
According to reports from 9to5Mac, this interface shift is currently being made available to a limited group of beta testers, though some users on the stable App Store version are already seeing the changes. The primary goal is to make the app feel more native to the iPad hardware, providing quicker access to different sections of the service while taking advantage of the extra screen real estate that tablets offer compared to smartphones.
Replacing the bottom navigation bar
Historically, WhatsApp on iPad has retained the bottom tab bar found on iPhone, which can feel cramped on a larger canvas. The new design replaces this with a persistent vertical panel that houses shortcuts to Chats, Updates, Communities, Calls, and Meta AI features. This layout mirrors the structure already used in the WhatsApp for Mac application, creating a more consistent experience for users who switch between their desktop and tablet devices.
The visual style also incorporates the recent
Customizing space for conversations
While the sidebar provides convenient navigation, it does consume a portion of the screen width. To address this, the app includes a toggle that allows users to hide the panel entirely. When the sidebar is collapsed, the chat list and the active conversation window expand toward the center of the screen. This adjustment reduces the feeling of compression, giving users more room to read messages or type replies if they prefer a focused, full-width view over having navigation options permanently visible.
Staggered rollout across user bases
As is common with major interface updates from WhatsApp, the distribution is gradual. The feature is first appearing in the latest TestFlight builds for beta testers, with stable version users following behind. This phased approach means that the new sidebar will not appear for every iPad owner simultaneously. Users should expect to see this change in their app updates over the coming weeks as the company completes the deployment.
