WhatsApp rolls out new call effects, animations and stickers ahead of the new year

WhatsApp is introducing fun new features to improve the texting and calling experience ahead of the new year, the company announced Thursday. For a limited time, WhatsApp users will be able to enjoy new call effects with New Year theme during video calls. Additionally, the instant messaging platform has rolled out new animations and sticker packs to match the festive mood. Notably, Instagram, which is another application owned by Metaplatformsrecently introduced a limited-time feature called 2024 Collage.

New Year Features on WhatsApp

According to WhatsApp, users can now make video calls during the holidays and apply festive backgrounds, filters and effects to commemorate the new year. This also brings new animated reactions. When someone reacts to a message using selected emojis, a confetti animation will appear for the sender and recipient.

The instant messaging platform has also introduced new stickers. A New Year’s Eve (NYE) sticker pack is available, as well as avatar stickers, matching the New Year theme. WhatsApp says these features are a great way to convey holiday wishes in a fun way and interactive.

These features join other additions to WhatsApp in recent weeks. Last week was deployed Even more effects for video calls, including puppy ears, underwater and a karaoke microphone. Users can now choose from a total of 10 effects. Additionally, users can now select specific participants for group calls without interrupting the entire chat.

Other new features

WhatsApp previously introduced capture metrics for real-time engagement in chats. After arriving, users will see visual cues in chats as well as the profile picture of the user typing in individual or group chats.

Another recent addition These are the transcriptions of the voice messages. As the name suggests, WhatsApp provides users with a verbatim transcription of voice messages received from others. However, only the recipient can see a transcription of the voice message and not the sender. The platform emphasizes that transcriptions are generated on the device and no one else can hear or read its content.