WhatsApp is adding new choices for customizing your chats, with both preset themes and mix-and-match colors for backgrounds and chat bubbles, as well as a selection of 30 new wallpapers.
Users on WhatsApp have been able to change chat backgrounds for a while, with options ranging from solid colors to patterned wallpapers to images uploaded from your camera roll. Now, customizations have expanded to include chat bubbles, with default themes that coordinate background and chat colors and options to customize one or both for individual chats or all of your WhatsApp threads.
According to a blog post from WhatsApp announcing the update, chat themes are currently being rolled out and will be available to all users “over the coming weeks.”
How to change chat themes in WhatsApp
To apply a WhatsApp theme across all of your chats, go to Settings > Chats > Default chat theme. If you want to select a theme for a specific chat, open that thread and tap the chat name (on iOS) or the triple dots (on Android) at the top of the screen and select Chat theme. You can also change the chat wallpaper from this menu.
If you don’t see these settings, the feature may not be available to you yet. Be sure to update the app to the most recent version.
WhatsApp recently added the option to select specific chat members to include in video calls as well as add new video effects.