Cover Image for WhatsApp introduces new stickers, reactions, and call effects with a New Year's theme.
Fri Dec 20 2024

WhatsApp introduces new stickers, reactions, and call effects with a New Year's theme.

The effects are available for Android and iOS users.

WhatsApp has started New Year celebrations early with the launch of a special pack of stickers and reactions that users can use to send well wishes to their loved ones in the coming weeks. These limited-edition features will be available from December 20 to January 3, accessible to all users through a new update that will be rolled out this week.

The app has announced that users will be able to make video calls during the festivities, with the option to apply festive backgrounds, filters, and effects to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Additionally, when reacting to a message using emojis like 🎊, 🥳, 🎉, 🍾, or 🥂, a confetti animation will be shown to both the sender and the receiver. WhatsApp has also released new stickers, including a specially curated pack for New Year's Eve and New Year-themed avatar stickers. According to the platform, these features offer a fun and interactive way to send holiday wishes.

Furthermore, ten new effects for video calls have been introduced, including fun options like dog ears, an underwater background, or a karaoke microphone. The experience for desktop calls has also been improved, making it easier to initiate calls, create links for calls, or directly dial numbers from the calls tab. Both desktop and mobile users will be able to enjoy more reliable calls with better video quality, providing a higher resolution and clearer visuals for both individual and group calls.

WhatsApp has stated that it will continue to make improvements to calls to ensure that users can make private calls of the highest quality from anywhere in the world. In another technological initiative, OpenAI has recently launched an experimental service called 1-800-ChatGPT, which allows access to the popular chatbot via WhatsApp, making it easier to use without needing to create a separate account or app. Meta also offers its own chatbot, Meta AI, on the WhatsApp platform.