WhatsApp Previews Animated Stickers Coming to the Platform
WhatsApp developers are moving toward adding animated stickers to the popular messaging app. The update has surfaced on the WABetaInfo portal, which tracks beta features and builds for the service. In other words, the feature is making its way through internal testing and could soon reach a wider audience.
In the current beta for Android, version 2.24.5.10, the animation capability is already visible to some testers. The team indicates animated stickers can use WebP or Lottie formats. With Lottie support, the stickers can scale smoothly without losing clarity, so they look sharp across a range of devices and screen sizes. This makes animated stickers a versatile option, offering crisp visuals whether viewed on a small phone screen or a larger tablet.
At present, WhatsApp users mainly rely on static stickers and emojis. There are also animated emojis, but these move only when sent separately from the surrounding text. Because the platform does not yet support animated stickers, many people turn to GIFs to express motion and emotion within chats. This behavior shows a clear demand for richer, moving visuals in daily conversations.
Telegram has offered animated stickers and emojis for several years, and their popularity demonstrates how much users enjoy expressive, image-based communication. The trend in messaging apps is toward richer media, faster animation, and more flexible design that can adapt to various chat contexts. This context helps explain why WhatsApp is exploring animated stickers as a logical enhancement in its broader strategy for multimedia messaging.
The work on animated stickers is ongoing. There is no confirmed timeline for when Lottie-based animated stickers will appear in the stable builds of WhatsApp for Android, iOS, or other platforms. Whispers of testing and internal rounds continue to indicate that the feature is a priority, but concrete release dates have not been announced. This pause underscores the careful approach the team is taking to ensure compatibility and performance across devices while maintaining a strong user experience.
Past WhatsApp updates have introduced new text formatting options, signaling a pattern of iterative improvements that blend convenience with richer communication tools. The current focus on animated stickers aligns with the broader direction of the app, which seeks to make conversations more expressive without overwhelming users with new controls. For now, users will need to wait for the feature to mature beyond the beta stage before it becomes available to the general public.