The icon of WhatsApp It is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. He has kept his style unchanged and green color since its inception 15 years ago, which has led some of its more than 2 billion users to use other alternatives that you may have heard of at some point: WhatsApp Red, WhatsApp Beige and others that are alternative versions of the icon with different colors. This can be achieved using a launcher in Android and the function Shortcuts in iOSbut they are not the WhatsApp icon itself, but rather images downloaded from the Internet that can be used to replace the traditional green icon of the application. Meta remains faithful to the green color of WhatsApp.
However, there is a case where Meta does change the color of the app and you may have come across it sometime. You have taken your cell phone out of your pocket and you see that The WhatsApp icon was no longer green but gray. And not because it has been replaced by a third-party icon, but it is the Meta application itself that makes the change. What has happened?
When the WhatsApp icon appears on your mobile in gray, it is because the app has been paused and it is Meta’s way of warning the user of that state in which, logically, you will not be receiving the messages that have been sent to you. But why has it paused if you haven’t put it that way?
Option to pause the app is available from the popup menu that the app displays when you hold down the WhatsApp icon on the home screen. It is the first option that appears, represented by an hourglass. And in the same way that It is not uncommon to accidentally start an application when you carry your phone in a bag or jacket and it is inadvertently unlocked.it may also happen that you put WhatsApp on pause by accidentit only requires 2 touches on the screen. If you find WhatsApp Gray on your mobile and you don’t know what happened, that is the reason.
Undoing the action is simple. You just have to click on the icon to start WhatsApp and a message tells you that the app is paused and gives you the option to cancel that pause and that WhatsApp returns to its usual state and recovers the classic color.
Now, if you really would like to permanently change the WhatsApp icon for a version in another color or something completely different, we explain how to do it.
How to have WhatsApp Red or another color on Android
To do this you will need to use a launcher, which is a type of application that allows you to modify various aspects of the home screen on Android. Nova Launcher It is one of the most popular and allows you to change the application icon on your mobile and replace it with any image you want. In the case of WhatsApp, you can do it with an app icon of a different color or, if you prefer, with something completely different. You must follow these steps:
- Install Nova Launcher on your Android mobile.
- Search and download the image that you are going to use. There is no shortage of WhatsApp examples on the Internet in all colors.
- Hold down the WhatsApp icon on the home screen to display a popup menu.
- Click on the icon pencil to edit it and select the image with which you want to replace the classic WhatsApp logo.
How to change the WhatsApp icon on an iPhone
The operating system iOS allows this type of modification to be carried out without the need for external applications, with the function Shortcuts. Follow these steps:
- Search and discharge on your mobile the image that you are going to use to replace the WhatsApp icon.
- Open Shortcuts and create a new one by adding the action Open app.
- Tap on app and select WhatsApp.
- Click on Open app and then in Rename to leave the shortcut name in WhatsApp only. In the same pop-up menu, choose Select icon to add the one you want to use.
- Tap on the button Share and then in Add to home screen and confirm the action.