WhatsApp Update brings support for Chat Themes on iOS and Android – here’s how to use them

Meta-owned personal messaging service WhatsApp has rolled out a new update for iOS and Android users that allows them to tinker with the look and feel of their chats. While WhatsApp has let users change the app’s default colour theme, there has been no way to change the default theme for chats.

In the latest update, WhatsApp is rolling out the Chat Theme feature to all users, allowing them to change the look of each individual chat with a choice of 22 presets and 30 default backgrounds. WhatsApp is also offering the option to change the default wallpaper brightness and even the colour of outgoing messages to help users feel more at home.

The new chat themes can either be applied across the board to all chats or toggled on a chat-by-chat basis to make those ‘special moments’ even more personal.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp also allows users to choose any image from their gallery as a wallpaper for a chat theme, and just like the default wallpapers, the brightness can be lowered to make messages easier to read. What you can’t customise is the colour of incoming messages, which remains white or grey depending on the light or dark theme.