WhatsApp activates Stickers feature in app

WhatsApp has received support for Stickers, images that users can send each other to express an emotion, for example. Developers can create stickers, but they must place apps in the Play Store or App Store to do so.

When users install those apps, the stickers will automatically become available within WhatsApp, the chat app writes. From Friday there will be a button in WhatsApp to send a Sticker in a conversation. For that, users have to click on the emoji button in the text box, then it will be the last option after emojis and gifs.

WhatsApp has put sample apps online for developers to quickly add their own artwork and thus publish stickers. It does require a developer account with Google and Apple to publish stickers in Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

This makes adding your own stickers much more complex than with competitor Telegram, which has had the function for several years. In Telegram there is a Stickers bot, where users can send their pictures. If they meet the requirements, Telegram will make a Sticker pack that is available to everyone with the url. In addition to Telegram, Facebook’s other chat app Messenger also already had support for stickers. The company announced earlier that WhatsApp would get stickers.