Some 1.5 billion users of WhatsApp will finally have something to be excited about, as the company has just announced the introduction of stickers within the next few weeks. The app will provide support for stickers on two operating systems: Android and iOS.
The selection of stickers will be limited at first
WhatsApp users will not have a great choice of stickers once this feature is introduced. The first packs will be created by the company’s design team and some unrelated artists chosen by WhatsApp. Of course, this will change in the future, as WhatsApp is likely to allow adding stickers that can be used in their app by anyone who wishes to do so.
The process of adding new sticker packs
According to the company, the process of adding new packs of stickers will be easy and in order to use a template provided by WhatsApp we will only need “minimal development or coding experience”. All artists that would like to add their stickers to WhatsApp will have to first publish them in the form of an app in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Once such app is available, it has to be downloaded and only then it can be used in WhatsApp. A more detailed guide on how to add stickers to the app can be found on WhatsApp’s website.
A move inspired by Facebook
It is possible that the introduction of stickers would not have happened before the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook. Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the founders of the app, were strongly opposing any additions that could disrupt the original idea behind the creation of WhatsApp: fast and simple messaging. However, since they left the company, it is now Facebook that makes decisions about the shape of the app, and the addition of stickers is probably the idea of this social network service.
Frances might be just at the beginning of her career, but after attending a technical school, she has a fresh perspective on today’s technology. She contributes to the site with tech news.
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