WhatsApp Brings New Year Stickers and Effects to Celebrate 2026

As people around the world prepare to welcome 2026, WhatsApp brings a host of new year celebration features. The app introduces special stickers, video call effects, and animated reactions to make conversations memorable. These features should already be available on the messaging platform on your Galaxy device. If not, make sure to update the app from the Play Store.

Ring in 2026 with WhatsApp’s new stickers and video call effects

New Year’s Day is the busiest day on WhatsApp as millions of people use the app to send texts and make calls with loved ones. WhatsApp supports more than 100 billion messages and about 2 billion calls on a regular day. During the 24 hours when the world welcomes a new year, it breaks records.

WhatsApp has now launched a new 2026 sticker pack to help users share joyful and good wishes. Furthermore, the app has brought new video call effects to make virtual celebrations more joyful. During a video call, you can tap the effects icon to add animations such as fireworks, confetti, and star animations. These effects show up on the screen in real time, making video calls more festive.

WhatsApp has introduced the animated confetti reactions feature. When you react to a message with the confetti emoji, a special reaction shows up in chats. For the first time, the app is also introducing animated stickers for Status updates. You can select a special 2026 layout with an animated sticker to share New Year moments on Status.

Apart from these festive updates, WhatsApp also offers a bunch of useful tools that can help you plan New Year celebrations more easily. For example, in a group chat, you can create and pin events to keep important details visible for everyone. Likewise, Polls help groups decide on food, drinks, or activities. You can also share your live location to help friends find their way to the party.