WhatsApp is constantly updating the messaging platform with new tweaks and features, and is one of the reasons why it continues to maintain its position as the most popular messaging platform in the world with more than 1.5 billion active users.
Animated Stickers
The Facebook-owned app is now working on bringing animated stickers to iOS and Android platforms, if its latest beta update is anything to go by. As pointed out by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp Messenger rolled out the Android beta 2.20.10 update to test out the new animated stickers feature and while the new sticker packs are currently inaccessible as they're still under development, they could be arriving on the Android, iOS and Web versions of the messaging app in a future update.
The report also noted that although WhatsApp recently rolled out an update for its existing sticker collection, no changes were made to the stickers' appearance or features. The new animated sticker packs will include categories like "Moody Foodies," "Bright Days," "Rico's Sweet Life," "Playful Piyomaru," and more.
An update to WhatsApp stickers is long overdue, given that existing stickers arrived back in 2018. While the list of stickers added by the app itself isn't very long, it does support third-party sticker packs which can be used on the platform. As of now, there's no official word on when this feature will be available to users but stay tuned for future updates on the same.
Dark Mode
In addition to animated stickers, WhatsApp is finally edging closer to roll out the highly anticipated Dark Mode feature to users. As reported by WABetainfo, WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.8 update revealed some improvements to the dark mode feature.
Although public beta users do not have access to the dark mode feature, the report pointed out the tweaks: the "system event bubble" in dark mode now highlights the text in yellow for personal accounts and green for business accounts. This suggests that the feature is in the final stages of development and WhatsApp is just adding finishing touches to the feature to ensure it's ready for release soon.
Dark mode for WhatsApp will be available in three options: original light theme, dark theme and 'Set by Battery Saver.' Original light theme will be a lighter shade of the dark theme, while the second will be the default dark mode. The third one will enable WhatsApp dark mode according to the phone's Battery Saver settings. So whenever the Battery Saver is turned on, dark mode will be enabled on WhatsApp as well.
