WhatsApp to roll out new features including animated stickers and QR codes

Users will be able to express themselves with animated stickers and add new contacts with QR codes. — WhatsApp

WhatsApp has announced that new features like animated stickers and QR codes will be rolled out to users in the coming weeks.

Users will be able to express themselves with animated stickers in chat. Website WABetaInfo on June 30 revealed a preview of WhatsApp’s upcoming new animated stickers pack that users will be able to download once the feature is available.

The Facebook-owned messaging application is also introducing QR codes, which WhatsApp said will make it easier for users to add new contacts.

“Soon when you meet someone new, you will be able to scan their QR code to add them to your contacts. No more tapping in their digits one at a time,” the company said in the announcement post.

Other new features announced include the expansion of the previously mobile-only Dark Mode feature to WhatsApp web and desktop.

The company also announced some improvements to the group video call feature which now allows up to eight people in one session. Users will be able to focus on whoever they want in the group chat by pressing and holding to expand a particular participant’s video to full screen.

“We also added a video icon in group chats of eight or less, so you can easily start a group video call with 1-tap.”

Finally, the WhatsApp status feature, which allows users to post videos or images that disappear after 24 hours as daily personal updates, will also be made available to KaiOS users.

Users need to download the latest version of WhatsApp to be able to use the new features. The company also has a number of other features that are not widely available yet such as WhatsApp Pay, which was introduced first in Brazil and then suspended due to regulatory issues.