WhatsApp is rolling out animated emoji reactions on Android

WhatsApp is introducing animated emoji reactions on Android, making the messaging experience more expressive than before. This feature brings animation to some emoji when users react to a message. Users who prefer static emoji can disable the animation from the app settings.

WhatsApp released animated emoji for messages

In the post about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.15.15 update, we announced animated emoji support for messages. With this feature, certain emoji play a short animation when users send them in their conversations. Note that WhatsApp only supports animation for a limited set of emoji. This means that some emoji animate while others appear exactly as they always did. WhatsApp built these animations using the Lottie library, the same technology used for animated stickers.

WhatsApp is now extending animated emoji to reactions

Animated emoji were limited to messages. Users who reacted to a message with the same emoji would see it appear without an animation. But now, WhatsApp is improving the experience by introducing reaction animations. We discovered the news with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.33.4 update, which is available on the Google Play Store. Specifically, WhatsApp is rolling out animated emoji reactions to some beta testers. With this update, the emoji now plays its animation when used as a reaction too. This makes reactions feel consistent with the emoji experience, whether users send them in a message or use them to react.

How animated reactions work on WhatsApp

When users tap and hold a message to react, they can see the reaction tray. After selecting an emoji, WhatsApp places it on the message. Animated reactions follow the same rules as animated emoji for messages. If the selected emoji has an animated version ready for reactions and the feature is active on the account, WhatsApp shows it in motion rather than static. WhatsApp plays the animation once before the emoji stops moving. If the animation is not available, users will see the reaction appear exactly as it always did before this update.

How to check if the feature is available on your account

WhatsApp automatically enables animated reactions by default. This means that users do not need to enable a specific setting to use them. Users can react to a message with one of the emoji that has an animated version. The feature is available if users can see the animation after reaction to a message. If the emoji appears static, the feature is not available on the account yet. Since WhatsApp is rolling out the feature gradually, this experience may vary from one user to another even on the same build.

How to turn off animated emoji if you prefer static ones

Users who find animated emoji distracting can disable them from the app settings. With the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.11.10 update, WhatsApp added a toggle to disable animated emoji. When this toggle is off, all emoji appear in their static form, including reactions. This feature is widely available now. Users who prefer a simpler interface can disable this option to keep everything static, without giving up the ability to react to messages.

Which emoji support animated reactions on WhatsApp

WhatsApp currently offers a limited set of animated emoji. However, WhatsApp keeps expanding the animated emoji pack over time. As shown from the attached screenshot, users who want to try animated reactions can start with Thumbs Up, Red Heart, Face with Tears of Joy, and Folded Hands, since all of these have animated versions. Note that other emoji also support animations, but WhatsApp will make them available in the future. For example, Fire, Two Hearts, Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes, Enraged Face, Rolling on the Floor Laughing will support animation for reactions in a future update. Users can simply react to a message using different emoji to discover which ones already animate.

WhatsApp is paying close attention to emoji reactions

WhatsApp has more plans for reactions than just this one. For example, WhatsApp is testing custom emoji reactions for WhatsApp Plus subscribers. This feature will let users replace the six default emoji in the reaction tray with ones they prefer. Between custom reactions and animated reactions, users can understand that WhatsApp has different plans to improve the emoji experience, and these two are just the beginning.

WhatsApp is rolling out animated emoji reactions to Android beta testers

Animated emoji reactions are currently available to some beta testers who install the latest WhatsApp beta update from the Google Play Store. WhatsApp is rolling out this feature gradually, so not every beta tester will see the animation after installing this update. If reactions appear static after updating, the feature should become available to more accounts over the coming weeks. However, WhatsApp has not announced when this feature will be available to everyone in the stable version.

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