WhatsApp could make stickers more fun with an audio upgrade

WhatsApp has let people share stickers in their chats for a long time now. While the app offers a solid selection of sticker packs, it also lets users create their own stickers from images and videos. Now, it seems WhatsApp could soon let users create sound stickers as well.

While digging through the latest version of WhatsApp (v2.26.41.11), we spotted evidence that WhatsApp could soon let users create and send “sound stickers.” With a bit of tinkering, we enabled the feature on our test device to give you a first look at how it could work.

For starters, WhatsApp could let you create sound stickers from still images or videos. When you’re creating a sticker from an image, you’ll see a new sound wave icon in the toolbar. Tapping it lets you either record your voice as a sound sticker or use an audio file from your phone’s storage. You will be able to record up to 10 seconds of audio (or trim an audio file down to 10 seconds) and attach it to your sticker. Once sent, WhatsApp will display a volume icon to play the attached sound.

When creating animated stickers from videos, WhatsApp will automatically include five seconds of audio from the video file. It will also let you replace that audio with a custom recording or an audio file from your phone’s storage.

Here’s a video demo of WhatsApp’s sound stickers in action:

We also spotted another change that WhatsApp might roll out in a future update. Right now, when you make a sticker in WhatsApp, the app automatically adds an outline and doesn’t let you remove it. However, it seems WhatsApp is working on that as well. While testing the sound stickers feature, we spotted a toggle to enable or disable sticker outlines directly in the sticker creation screen. Check out the screenshots below:

WhatsApp is also working to tweak the appearance of the compose box in chats. Right now, the compose box is a single-line field with icons for attachments, the camera, and other features on the right. However, WhatsApp is working on a two-line compose box that could display all the additional features on the bottom line, leaving the top line clear for composing messages. It’s unclear what the purpose of this would be unless WhatsApp plans to add icons for more features to the bottom row. We’ll just have to wait and see.

It goes without saying that these features are currently under development, and WhatsApp could introduce significant changes before rolling them out to users.