Today, the Unicode Consortium’s emoji library has swelled to a point where there’s an emoji for almost anything you want to express. As one of theforerunners in the instant messaging space, WhatsAppstays abreastwith the Consortium’s updates. The app also supports stickers and GIFs, but most users still seem to prefer emoji in a pinch. Leveraging the link between emoji and stickers, WhatsApp is testing a way to serve sticker recommendations you might find useful.
WhatsApp hassupported stickers since 2018, but once you amass a collection of several sticker packs, or spend timebuilding your own, it can become difficult to find the correct sticker when you’re in a rush. Thankfully, since its inception, WhatsApp required sticker pack makers to associate each sticker with certain emoji.WABetaInforeports that’s finally coming in clutch for the recommendation system WhatsApp is testing.
Source:WABetaInfo
As soon as you type an emoji, the system serves up related stickers from the packs you have installed on your device. The sticker suggestion conveniently floats above the message box. This feature is significant for people who prefer a specific art style in stickers, or just something different from the emoji you see in chats everywhere. It also makes it much easier to find the situationally appropriate emoji.
However, this form of sticker suggestions is still in development, and only available to beta testers running version 2.23.14.6 of the Android app. WABetaInfo says it works with the Cuppy sticker pack on the WhatsApp store, but there’s no telling how the recommendations will look with more than one compatible pack installed. It is also marked compatible with older beta builds of the app, and may work with the iOS version too.
While this feature (hopefully) makes its way to the stable channel, we suggest developers of custom sticker packs revisit their creations and make sure each sticker is associated with specific emoji. This will ensure the created packs are compatible with the feature as soon as it is ready for prime time.
