Not available to all WhatsApp users yet
As of now, the stickers on WhatsApp are only available in Beta version of the app. If you have an Android smartphone, you need to have the beta version 2.18.239 of WhatsApp and iPhone users should update their WhatsApp Beta to version 2.18.100 in order to get the feature. Android users who can’t wait to use these stickers and are willing to become a beta tester of WhatsApp for them, can head straight to the app on Google Play Store. On scrolling down past the description and ‘Similar Apps’ section on Play Store they would see a panel that says ‘Become a Beta tester’. Select the ‘I’m in’ option, and when asked to confirm, press ‘Join’. In the next few hours, you would receive an update saying that you have become a beta tester of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp gets a dedicated Sticker Store
Like emojis and GIFs have their own separate section on WhatsApp, so do stickers. If you are a Beta user of the app, you can access the Stickers Store on WhatsApp by clicking on the emoji button on the chat bar and then the sticker button on the bottom bar. It is a square icon with rounded corners and on the Android app, it is placed right next to the GIF button.
You will get 12 sticker packs for free
Once you open the Sticker Store of WhatApp, you will see that ‘Cuppy’ stickers are available to you by default. On pressing the ‘+’ icon on the top right of the chat bar, you’ll be taken to a new tab called ‘All Stickers’. Here, there are 11 more sticker kinds that you can download for free. These include Cuppy by Minseung Song, Salty by Alisa Keyzhanovaska, Komo by Sanat Rath, Bibimbap Friends by Pete Ellison, Unchi & Rollie by nu1t, Shiba Inu by Aiko Kuninoi, The Maladroits by Cole Ott, Koko by Hanasake Pictures Inc, Hatch by Hatch, Fearless and Fabulous by Ann Shen, Banan by Jayde Fish and Biscuit by Ghostbot.
You can mark your favourite stickers
If you particularly love a sticker and don’t want to look for it each time you wish to use it; you can mark it as a favourite. For marking a sticker as your favourite, just long press on it in the Sticker Store. On doing this, WhatsApp will ask you if you would like to add it to your favourites and give two options – Cancel and Add. Select ‘Add’ and the sticker will get added to your Favourite tab which can be accessed by pressing the star icon on the top bar of your Sticker Section.
There is a tab that classifies stickers
Right next to the Favourites tab on your Sticker Section, there is a tab that has a heart icon on top. If you click on the heart, you will see that it automatically expands to show four icons – one of a sticker with a smile, one with the heart, one with a sad face and the last one with an exclamation mark. Here, you can find different stickers on the basis these different emotions. For instance, if you wish to tell your friend on chat that you are shocked by what they said, you need to go to the exclamation sticker in this tab. This reminded us of a similar tab we have used in Snapchat that classifies various Bitmoji stickers on the basis of emotions too.
You can check for recently used stickers
Did you just use a sticker that you really like but forgot to mark it as a favourite? No problem, you can still find it easily by clicking on the Clock icon on the top left of the cha bar in the Sticker Store. This is similar to finding recently used emojis on WhatsApp.
You can download new stickers
If the 12 free sticker packs that are available for free on WhatsApp not enough for you, you can download more. Click on the ‘+’ icon on the top right of the Sticker Store, go to ‘All Stickers’ and scroll down to the bottom. The Android app has an option ‘Get More Stickers’. On pressing this, you will be taken to Google Play Store where you can download additional stickers of your choice. Alternatively, just go straight to the Play Store and search for ‘WhatsApp Stickers’ to look for more sticker options for WhatsApp.
Available for WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp’s Sticker feature will be available for WhatsApp Web as well, provided the app is updated to the latest beta version.
Will be rolled out in a phased manner
As we mentioned earlier, the Sticker feature will be available for both Android and iOS versions of the app. Currently, it is in the Beta version of the app, but when it becomes available to all users, it will be rolled out in a phased manner, like most other WhatsApp features. So don’t worry if your friend gets it and you don’t.
The feature is already available on a few ‘rival’ apps
If you have been using other apps like Snapchat and Telegram, you would know that Stickers is hardly a new feature. On Snapchat, you cannot only send stickers, but Bitmoji too while you are texting your friends. The app also lets you make your own stickers out of pictures. On Telegram, an instant messaging app that has been gaining a lot of popularity off late, users are given suggestions of what stickers they can use on the basis of the emoji they select to send. So, if you choose the heart-eye emoji, the app will prompt you with various options of different stickers expressing the same emotion to send instead. Stickers are available on Instagram too, but can only be used in Stories.
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