WhatsApp rolls out Stickers support
Users of the chat application WhatsApp will soon be able to send stickers to chat participants and contacts from within the application.
The new feature is being rolled out as we speak and adds much-requested sticker support to the popular application.
Stickers work pretty much like emoticons in that they can be pushed to any chat with the tap on a sticker icon in the selection interface.
The feature became available after a update to version 2.18.330 today on my Nokia 5 Android phone.
You find the new option next to the existing emoticon and gif option in the application. Just tap on the smiley icon in chat and then on the new sticker symbol that is displayed next to Gif in the selection interface.
Stickers are images with transparent backgrounds that have a size of 512x512 pixels. Individual stickers can't be larger than 100 Kilobytes currently.
The current implementation includes just a couple of cup stickers that users can pick to throw at their chat partners. The interface displays often used stickers for easier picking and divides them into different groups.
Probably more interesting than the default selection of stickers is support for third-party stickers that users can add to WhatsApp; this works slightly complicated as it is necessary to download sticker packs as Android applications (or iOS) to integrate them into WhatsApp.
Some Sticker packs are integrated directly in WhatsApp but the bulk is only available on the official Stores. To download one of the default Sticker packs, click on the plus icon after opening the Stickers interface in Whatsapp. There you get a list of available packages for installation.
Whatsapp create a sample application to help developers and designers push their stickers to Google Play and the Apple iOS store.
If you'd like to create your own stickers for WhatsApp, you can package them in an Android or iOS app. You can publish your sticker app like any other app to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, and users who download and install your app will be able to start sending those stickers right away from within WhatsApp.
Closing Words
Stickers are highly popular in certain regions and demographic groups and integration ensures that these groups stick to WhatsApp and don't wander off to use a different messaging application.
Third-party support is welcome and it is likely that we will see the first paid sticker packs appear in Stores soon. Users who don't use emoticons or Gifs much or at all will ignore stickers as well.
Now You: do you use stickers, emoticons or Gifs?
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?