Applications

WhatsApp is not the same on iOS and Android: all its visual and functional differences

There are still many differences between iOS and Android, despite the fact that they are becoming more and more similar. However, the apps tend to be very similar and even more so those that are as well known as WhatsApp. But, Is this app so similar between systems?

Well, as you can guess from the headline of this post, yes there are a few differences depending on what mobile you are using. It is not that it is an infinite list or that it completely changes the user experience, but there is Several aspects to take into account if you have just released a mobile and it does not have the same operating system as the other.

The first great impact between systems is the interface

Although functionally the apps come to do the same thing, the truth is that they do it differently. When a user switches from Android to iOS for the first time, or the other way around, it is common for them to feel somewhat out of place when it comes to handling this application. And it is that the difference is very striking, being one of the most popular apps, since it does not happen the same in other known apps like Instagram or Facebook, also owned by Meta like WhatsApp.

The highlights are the colors, with a sober white color (or black if you have dark mode) on iOS and with an android version in which the green color appears to highlight the tab menu or the icon to open a new chat. We even meet different ways to organize tabshaving in both cases this organization:

whatsapp on android

Android (from left to right):

  • Camera
  • state
  • calls
whatsapp in ios

On iOS (from left to right):

  • state
  • calls
  • Camera
  • chat
  • Setting
Although WhatsApp on iOS has an apparently more complete settings menu than on Android, they actually have (almost) the same functions.

There are other subtle differences like for open a new chat in iOS you must go to the option at the top right, while in Android it is on the same side, only at the bottom. He too seeker it changes, having a full bar at the top of the iPhone and with a magnifying glass on Android that, only when expanded, opens the search box. It is also noteworthy how Android “hides” its tab settings at the three dots on the top right.

Search Whatsapp Chats

Precisely the settings panel offers identical functions, but ordered differently. There are subtle changes like access to featured messages or see the linked devices, which on iOS comes directly from the settings tab, while on Android it is accessed from the three-dot menu without having to enter the settings. There is only one setting that the iOS app does not have yet, but we will talk about that later.

Slight changes in the chats, having the buttons to send files in a different place.
Send Whatsapp Files

Although the chats are visually similar, beyond the color as it happened in the main panel, we can find small changes when it comes to send attachments. For example, if you want to send a photo, document, location, contact or any other file, you will have to click on the right clip in the case of Android. On iOS, on the other hand, you must click on the ‘+’ icon on the left side of the chat bar.

There are also different ways of access contact detailssimply clicking on its name in iOS and having to go to the three-point bar and click on View contact on Android. The details and options for the contact itself do not vary much beyond the order in which they appear.

Contact Whatsapp

You can transfer chats from iOS to Android, but the other way around…

Chats From Ios To Android

Between the recent improvements that WhatsApp has been integrating includes that, finally after many years, it is possible to transfer chats from an Android mobile to an iPhone. However, the other way around, it is not as simple a task as opening the app and proceeding to enter the corresponding function.

As of today, you can only pass chats from iOS to Android during the initial setup of the latter. And this is a limitation that, at least at the time of publishing this post, seems to be quite important. And this is a function that should work the same on both operating systems and that, for reasons that have not been officially revealed, this is not the case.

Preview chats without being discovered, only on iOS

If in the previous section the one who went from an iPhone to an Android came out winning, in this one it happens completely the other way around. Surely on more than one occasion you have wanted read a message without leaving a trace. Removing the option for the blue double check to appear is an option, but in iOS you don’t even need to have this setting activated.

Whatsapp Ios Preview

In Apple mobiles, starting with the iPhone 6s, the haptic gestures which are known as 3D Touch in apple jargon. Its functions include the possibility of entering WhatsApp, staying in the main view of chats and keeping your finger pressed for a few seconds on any of them and being able to see a preview of it without the other person (or group) seeing the messages as read.

And although on Android we have already been seeing context menus similar to those on iOS, even having an identical preview in apps like Telegram, it has not arrived like this for WhatsApp. In fact, if you proceed to make this gesture in Android WhatsApp, you will only be able to select said chat to pin it, silence it, archive it or delete it.

Different and surprising widgets for Android

Although they had been in your system for years, iPhone widgets began to become more popular with iOS 14 thanks to being able to integrate them on any screen. However, WhatsApp integrate only the old widget in iOSbeing relegated to the panel on the left of the system in which only recent contacts can be seen with whom you have chatted.

Widgets Whatsapp Ios Android

On Android, on the other hand, we can add the widget to any screen, although the highlight is what it offers visually: preview of recent messages. The app does not offer a preview as we mentioned in the previous point, but you can get it in this section, being even better as you can see a much more complete thread of messages. In addition, it is allowed resize widget at our whim, something that the iOS does not.

Other small details that change between operating systems

Beyond what was previously mentioned, there are other small WhatsApp changes worth mentioning, such as the power select multiple chats on Android and then delete, mute or archive them. This is an action that can be done on iOS, of course, although it is not allowed to select several chats at the same time and you have to go one by one.

Select Chats Whatsapp Ios

We also find some changes with regard to the deleted photos and videos, which disappear from our gallery if we use Android, but remain if we are on iOS. Also in relation to this type of file, it is noteworthy that when you send a video on iOS you can not only shorten its duration as on Android, but it also allows you to crop video size and give it other proportions.

In the end, although aesthetically different, both versions offer the same tools on iOS and Android.

The notification balloons They are another very palpable difference between systems if you have this type of notification active in the settings. On Android, you will always be shown a balloon with the total number of messages you have unread, something that also happens on iOS at first, but when you enter the app it vanishes. And it is that, on the iPhone, you can enter and exit the app without actually having seen the chats and the system will already mark them as read as far as the notification balloon is concerned.

WhatsApp notifications

In short, WhatsApp is a universal app that broadly does exactly the same thing on an Android mobile and an iPhone. However, they have small visual and some other functional differences that make it not be handled in the same way. However, sections such as being able to transfer chats from iOS to Android, we hope that they will be resolved in future versions of the app.

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