WhatsApp is finally testing the possibility of adding animated stickers to its platform, a feature that has been available in competing offerings like Telegram for quite a while now.
As first reported by WABetaInfo, the feature went live on WhatsApp beta version 2.20.194.7 for Android and version 2.20.70.26 for iOS. However, subsequent beta updates immediately removed the feature, at least on Android.
The current implementation of WhatsApp animated stickers is nowhere as sophisticated as Telegram’s one. For starters, the stickers don’t loop. Hence, it just animates once and goes back to its static self.
You will have to scroll up or down again if you need to see the stickers animate again. For now, we can’t be sure if that behavior is intentional or a bug that will get fixed in future updates.
Going by AndroidPolice‘s report, WhatsApp will have at least five official animated sticker packs namely Playful Piyomaru, Rico’s Sweet Life, Moody Foodies, Chummy Chum Chums, and Bright Days.
When I tried to upgrade from WhatsApp beta version 2.20.194.6 that I previously had, to version 2.20.194.7 via APKMirror, it showed an error. I got the same result in a fresh installation as well. However, I was able to install version 2.20.194.8 beta from the same website but unfortunately, that version doesn’t support animated stickers.
Even if you have 2.20.194.7 version, you’ll have to receive an animated sticker from someone who has already managed to enable the feature. You will eventually be able to send, receive, and install animated stickers. We could expect WhatsApp to properly implement and rollout animated stickers in the upcoming beta builds.
