If you use the beta version of WhatsApp for Android, you may notice something strange in its interface: there are two buttons to open the camera that do exactly the same thing. It seems like a mistake, although it has its reason.
WhatsApp communities are coming to the app imminently, and the place they will occupy is the old location of the camera. Therefore, until the communities are activated, we will see two camera buttons.
Preparing the arrival of the communities
We have been hearing about WhatsApp communities for months until the company ended up officially announcing them along with a package of news that would gradually arrive. Of these news, the communities is the only one still waiting to arrive to all: so far only a few lucky ones have this new section active.
communities will be accessible from the first WhatsApp tab, the one that today opens the application’s camera with which you can capture new states or photos to share with your contacts, so WhatsApp engineers had to find a new place to access the camera. The fix: a new button next to search.
How the WhatsApp buttons and tabs will end when communities are activated (left) and how they are displayed now, with two camera buttons (right)
What prelude to the activation of WhatsApp, the app now shows the camera button next to the search, but the camera tab is still visible. It is an opportunity for us to get used to the idea of the new location of the button until at some point the current tab disappears and changes to the communities.
Beyond the curiosity of having two camera buttons, this change tells us that the global launch of the communities would be very close. The functionality seems to be ready and also its place in the interface is available. The only thing missing is for someone in Meta to press the button.
