Overview
- The discovery comes from an APK/beta teardown of WhatsApp's Android 2.26.44 series, reported Thursday, November 5, 2026, which revealed code and screenshots for the new preview.
- Users would open the preview by long‑pressing a conversation in the chat list and could scroll through recent messages inside a floating card without launching the full chat.
- Messages read inside the preview are reported not to update read receipts, with WhatsApp updating blue ticks only when a chat is opened normally.
- The preview also exposes a refreshed contextual action menu with controls to select, mark as read, pin, archive, delete and a ‘More options’ area for additional actions.
- WhatsApp has not enabled the feature for beta or public users and may change its design or behavior before release; the rollout date remains unannounced and the iOS preview is the closest existing reference for how it might work.