Stickers represent your expressions better than emojis. A guide on how to create WhatsApp stickers for yourself.
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Towards the end of 2018, WhatsApp introduced stickers to the messaging platform. A total of 12 sticker packs from a collaboration of WhatsApp’s design team and selected artists and designers were made available for free download on a dedicated sticker store on the app. This number has increased to about 59 sticker packs currently on the sticker store.
Stickers are more of a personalized expression varying across individuals and locations. And since WhatsApp alone cannot provide all the variety of stickers that individuals might need, there is a link from the app to download other sticker packs from the Google Play store.
Though not available initially, WhatsApp now allows adding stickers for use in the app. So you can now create and add your sticker packs for a more personalized chatting experience when using the app.
Alongside the release of new wallpaper improvements and updates, WhatsApp introduced animated stickers and everything has never been the same.
Creating WhatsApp stickers
There is more than one way to create WhatsApp stickers. Creating a packaged sticker app according to WhatsApp guidelines or using a third-party app to create them.
Creating packaged WhatsApp sticker app
WhatsApp stickers can be created to be more official, authorized, and acceptable according to their terms of service by packaging them into an app created with WhatsApp-supported APIs and interfaces and publishing it in the respective app store. Sample apps and codes are also provided by WhatsApp for people with little coding experience to create their sticker apps for users to download and use the stickers within.
Creating a WhatsApp sticker app requires strict adherence to laid down guidelines which include, sticker background, stroke, size, image format, and a list of others.
The above way of creating stickers is official but a bit complex and not easy. A very easy way is to use a third-party WhatsApp sticker to create an app to create your personalized stickers. And since the goal is to create stickers for your use, I suggest you use this method.
Creating Personalized WhatsApp stickers with sticker creating apps
Instead of a sticker pack packaged as an app on mobile app stores, third-party sticker-making apps make it possible to create stickers within them and use them on WhatsApp. They are photo editing applications that turn images into stickers.
Download a WhatsApp sticker-making app from your app store. You can search for WhatsApp sticker maker to see the various ones. You have to be careful about the app you download as they have an unknown origin and might misuse granted phone permissions. I recommend you download sticker.ly. It is available for download on Google play store and Apple store.
Open the app and add the images you want to use as stickers after clicking on the create new option. Photos can be added from your gallery or you can take new ones with the camera from the app.
Next edit to your heart’s content. There are many tools to play around with on sticker-making apps. You can crop and remove background, add emojis and perform other fun basic photo-editing actions.
- Cropping. There is always an option to trim the unwanted parts out of the image you want to use.
- Erasing background. Sometimes the image background is crowded and singling out the figure you want to use is always the best fit. Some apps automatically erase the background of a clear picture when the option is used. Other times, you have to do it manually.
- Add text. Sometimes a facial is not just enough, you have to add something that says more. Just like popular memes where a single face is used for so many memes and the difference is just the accompanying text. Same thing with stickers.
After editing, you can go ahead to save your sticker pack with the pack name and name of the author in the provided space. So apps will require this at the beginning.
Now you can export your sticker to WhatsApp and start using it. And can also your WhatsApp stickers across Android and iOS platforms.
Creating animated WhatsApp stickers
Creating animated WhatsApp stickers is similar to creating a normal sticker, the only difference is you are using a gif or video instead of an image.
Not all third-party sticker-making applications support adding video or GIF to create stickers. So we are going to use another app to create animated stickers. I suggest using the Sticker Maker app if you are using an Android phone and Sticker Maker Studio.
Download the app depending on the mobile platform you are using. Then proceed to select the video or GIF you want to use after adding your sticker pack name and author name and clicking create.
The app will do the work of compressing your video or GIF into a sticker.
Now you can save and export to WhatsApp and use it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can you use your stickers on WhatsApp web?
Yes, you can use your stickers on the WhatsApp web version after you have added them to your account on your mobile phone. Your WhatsApp data syncs across your accounts, so whatever data you have on your mobile phone will also be available to you via your WhatsApp web account.
Q2. Can you search for stickers on WhatsApp?
Just like the dedicated emoji search feature, WhatsApp also has a dedicated search button for stickers. Your search for stickers using text or emoji and the relevant sticker(s) will be displayed. This is however exclusive to searching only downloaded stickers on your phone and does not go beyond that to stickers on the web.
From a chat, access stickers by clicking the emoji button. Enter the sticker tab by clicking the square-shaped sticker icon. Now click the search icon and type in an emoji or text relevant to what you want to search for and WhatsApp will show the relevant results. Depending on the source of your stickers, some personalized ones created by individuals might not respond to this search feature since they have no tags.
Final thoughts
A text-based conversation and a real-life conversation are far apart when it comes to alikeness. Having a video call is more close to a real-life conversation over long distances as gestures and facial expressions which are important ways of communicating something across are present to some extent. Stickers, however, especially animated stickers, have brought that side of the text-based conversation to life. And what better way to express yourself than your custom-made stickers.
