WhatsApp adding stickers to iOS and Android

We’re noticing a trend from the Facebook team this year — adding as many features as possible to already perfectly good services. Next up, WhatsApp will gain the ability to send stickers to friends.

You’ll likely be familiar with stickers in other messaging apps like Telegram or Signal and (a version of) the feature is finally making the jump over to the Facebook-owned service. Support for stickers on WhatsApp will roll out to Android and iOS users over ‘the coming weeks’.

Initial sticker packs will likely be limited, but WhatsApp’s design teams and ‘other artists’ will roll out new packs over time. WhatsApp will also allow anyone to design and add their own stickers in future. Sounds a lot like what we’ve had from Telegram for quite some time…

This process isn’t as easy as it is on Telegram though. You’d need to publish a sticker pack as an app on Google Play or Apple’s App Store. Then others can download the app (or apps) and use those sticker packs in WhatsApp. The company has provided a template that apparently requires ‘minimal development or coding experience’ but you know what they say about making something foolproof. Find out if you have the necessary skills here.

Stickers are just now rolling out to public in the newest WhatsApp update, and could take a few weeks to be accessible. We’ve found the functionality on iOS already, so many iPhone users should be able to annoy their friends using stickers from today.

Source: WhatsApp Blog