After months of anticipation and some initial rumours and leaks, WhatsApp has now finally brought stickers. The sticker integration is initially limited to WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.18.329, though you can also receive stickers after updating WhatsApp on your iPhone to version 2.18.100. Alongside giving a handful of default stickers, WhatsApp has provided a dedicated Stickers Store from where you can download new sticker packs for free. There are 12 sticker packs provided by WhatsApp. Additionally, there is a link to download distinguished sticker packs directly from Google Play. You can also use stickers directly from the WhatsApp Web after you'll get it on your smartphone.
To use a sticker in one of your chats, you need to tap the emoji button from the chat bar and then tap the stickers icon from the bottom bar. There is there a history tab available to show all the previously used stickers in one place. Similarly, there is a favourites tab that includes all the stickers that you've marked as favourite by pressing the star option after selecting your favourite sticker in a particular chat. WhatsApp has also provided a sticker category tab from where you can select the available stickers. Furthermore, there is a plus button that takes you directly to the Stickers Store.
You can visit the Stickers Store to find appropriate sticker packs for your chats. There is an All Stickers tab that lists all the available sticker packs. You can pick one of the sticker packs. You just need to hit the download button available on the right of the sticker pack to download it on your device. Also, you can tap any of the listed sticker packs to view all its available stickers. You can additionally view all the downloaded stickers by tapping the My Stickers tab from the Stickers Store. Moreover, you can download sticker packs other than the ones listed on the Stickers Store by tapping the Get More Stickers button from the bottom of the All Stickers tab.
If you don't want a downloaded sticker pack, you can remove it directly from the My Stickers tab available on the Stickers Store. You can also rearrange the downloaded sticker packs by holding the button available at the rightmost corner of the sticker pack.
Apart from giving a way to have a collection of stickers to communicate with other users, WhatsApp has provided you with a way to send grouped stickers. You only need to send multiple stickers from your device and those will be available in the grouped form on the recipient's device. This looks similar to the photo albums available on WhatsApp that come once you send multiple photos at once.
WhatsApp lets you access your stickers not just on your smartphone but also on the WhatsApp Web. You only need to access the WhatsApp Web from your browser to start using stickers that are available on your WhatsApp. If in case you won't see stickers on the WhatsApp Web version, you need to clear the cache on your browser and then restart the webpage.
To get stickers, you need to have WhatsApp for Android beta version 2.18.329 or later. You can
download the latest beta directly from the Google Play beta programme or in an
APK file form via APK Mirror.
It is worth noting here that WhatsApp stickers can also be received on an iPhone after downloading WhatsApp for iPhone version 2.18.100. However, we weren't able to spot the ability to send stickers using the latest WhatsApp for iPhone. Folks at WABetaInfo report that the feature is rolling on iPhone slowly, though it is designed to work on all iPhone models running iOS 7.0 and later. WABetaInfo adds that users will be able receive stickers as far back as Android version 2.18.310.
Prior to the fresh update, users were able to send stickers on WhatsApp using third-party keyboards such as Gboard. But those stickers were sent as an image. Therefore, the new change is likely to encourage users to send stickers alongside communicating using voice, video, text, and GIFs on the instant messaging app that has over 1.5 billion users worldwide.
Facebook formally revealed the arrival of stickers on WhatsApp back in May, following the announcement of group video calling support on the instant messaging app at the F8 developers' conference. "Voice and video calling are very popular on WhatsApp, and we're excited to share that group calling will be coming in the months ahead. Stickers are also coming to WhatsApp soon," the company had said in a blog post.