WhatsApp borrows from Instagram and Discord to supercharge its status and groups 🤩

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WhatsApp is on a mission to stay relevant—and it’s doing a pretty good job of it. The messaging giant is rolling out a set of fresh features designed to make conversations more expressive, creative, and collaborative. From Instagram-inspired interactive stickers to Discord-style voice chats, here’s a look at what’s new.

Add Yours: the interactive sticker that sparks creativity 🧩

If you’re the kind of person who posts regularly to WhatsApp Stories, the new Add Yours sticker will feel like a natural (and welcome) upgrade. Borrowed from Instagram, this interactive sticker lets you create story chains by prompting your friends to respond to a question or challenge. Think: “Show me your morning view” or “What’s your current screen background?”

Once you post your prompt, your contacts can reply with their own photos or videos—right in the same chain. It’s a fun way to crowdsource content, build engagement, and bring a more social vibe to WhatsApp’s status feature. Suddenly, stories aren’t just something you broadcast—they’re something everyone can join in on.

Multi-photo status updates: remix your own collage 🎨

WhatsApp is also expanding the creative toolkit for status updates. Instead of posting a bunch of separate images, you can now layer multiple photos as stickers in a single story. Each image can be resized, rotated, or moved around—giving you full control over the look and feel of your post.

Here’s how it works:

• Open the Status tab and select (or shoot) your background photo or video.
• Tap the sticker icon, then choose Photo to upload from your gallery.
• Add as many photo-stickers as you want. You can still throw in regular stickers, text, and drawings.
• Once you’re happy with your layout, hit post.

Whether you’re telling a story, creating a mood board, or just having fun, this new feature lets you get more expressive with less effort.

Voice chats in any group: spontaneous audio on tap 🎤

Tired of typing long messages in group chats? WhatsApp is making things easier by rolling out voice chats to all groups—no matter their size. These aren’t group calls in the traditional sense. Instead, they’re more like live audio rooms, where anyone in the group can jump in or out freely, without interrupting the flow of the text conversation.

Here’s how to start a voice chat:

• Open a group chat.
• Swipe up from the message bar at the bottom, and hold for a few seconds.
• Boom—the voice chat starts and stays pinned at the bottom of the chat.

Other members can join or leave at any time. There’s no ringtone, no pressure—it’s a casual, drop-in format that’s perfect for quick planning, group brainstorming, or catching up with friends. And yes, it’s still end-to-end encrypted.

With this batch of updates, WhatsApp is clearly pushing beyond its roots as a basic messaging app. By adding more creative tools and lowering the barrier for real-time voice communication, it’s evolving into a richer space for expression and connection. We’re curious to see how users make these features their own.

Tried these new features yet? Do you see Add Yours and multi-photo statuses changing the way you share? Could voice chats replace group calls? Let us know your take!