How to add text to a sticker on iPhone

How do I add text to a sticker on iPhone?

On iPhone, you add text to a sticker in an app with a text tool: WhatsApp's built in sticker maker, Markup in the Photos app, or a sticker maker app from the App Store. Pick by where you send the sticker and how much the words need to do.

In WhatsApp's sticker maker

WhatsApp's sticker maker adds still text, emoji and drawings to a sticker from a photo, and you send it right away in WhatsApp. The steps from WhatsApp's help page, checked on November 8, 2026:

1. In a chat, tap the Stickers icon, then tap Create.
2. Tap Use a photo and pick a photo from your gallery.
3. On the preview screen, add text, and a sticker, emoji or drawing if you like.
4. Tap send.

With Markup in Photos

Markup puts text on a photo, not on a sticker, so you send the result as a photo. The steps from Apple's iOS 27 guide to adding text with Markup, checked on November 8, 2026:

1. Open the photo in the Photos app. If you don't see the Markup toolbar, tap Markup.
2. In the Markup toolbar, open the add menu and tap Add Text.
3. Tap the text box and type your words.
4. Tap the tools to change the font, size, style or color of the text.
5. Tap outside the text box, then tap Done.

In a sticker maker app

Sticker maker apps from the App Store add captions to cutout stickers for WhatsApp and iMessage. Each app has its own text tool, so check its App Store page for which tools are free.

None of these describe animated text, so the words stay still on the sticker. Text that animates and shows up at a set moment needs an editor with text motions and a timeline, covered further down.

How much text fits on a sticker?

A sticker shows up small in the chat, so three to five short words is about as much text as people read in one glance. When you have more to say, split it into two short lines instead of one long one.

Keep your words near the top or the bottom of the sticker, so they don't cover your face or the part where the action happens.

How to make text easy to read on a sticker

Text is easy to read on a sticker when it has a dark edge or a block of color behind it, a bold font, and a color that stands out from the photo. A thin white font with no edge disappears on a bright sky.

Markup lets you change the font, size, style and color of your words, so pick a bold font and a color that stands out from the photo.

How to animate text on a sticker

To animate text on a sticker, you need an editor with text animations, because WhatsApp's sticker maker and Apple's Markup describe only still text. The Dappi sticker app is an iPhone sticker and GIF app whose editor puts text on any sticker or GIF you make in it, with fonts, looks, motions and a timeline for when each line shows up.

Add text in the Dappi editor

In the Dappi editor, you add text like this: open your finished sticker, tap Text, type, then place it and tap Save. You need the app on iOS 17 or later, signed in to your account. The editor comes with every account, so you can caption any sticker you make.

1. Tap the purple plus button and make any kind of sticker. Text works the same on a regular sticker from your own photo or video with the Free option, on an AI Sticker and on an AI Pro sticker.
2. When your sticker is ready, open the Editor tab at the bottom, where your newest stickers wait under Recently made, and tap your sticker. You can also tap Edit video on the sticker's own page.
3. Tap Text and start typing. Your words come out in capitals by default, and they show up on the sticker while you type.
4. Drag the text to where you want it, pinch it to make it bigger or smaller, and turn it with two fingers to tilt it.
5. Tap Save when it looks right.

Your text becomes part of the sticker itself, so your friends see it in iMessage, where the sticker arrives as a GIF, and in WhatsApp. Dappi copies the sticker as an animated GIF, and in our tests since July 2026 it arrives in WhatsApp as an animated sticker.

Download Dappi on the App Store

In the Dappi sticker app, each text holds up to 30 characters and one sticker takes up to seven texts. The whole sticker holds at most 10 layers, and your texts, Word art and emojis all count toward that. When you reach it, the app says "The sticker is full (max 10)". You place, style and time each text on its own.

Pick a font, a color and a look

In the Dappi editor, you pick a font, a color and a look for your words, and choose the look that stands out best on your photo.

The Font row runs from loud, chunky fonts like Bangers and Luckiest Guy for a big reaction to handwriting like Pacifico and Caveat for something sweet. The Color row gives you a set of ready colors, plus Any color when you want an exact shade. The Look row decides what goes around your letters:

• Outline puts a dark edge around your letters, so they stay readable on a bright sky and in a dark room. Every new text starts with it.
• Plain shows just your letters in your color, which suits a calm, simple photo.
• Box puts your words on a rounded block of your color, like a little label.
• Glow turns your letters white with a glow around them in your color, which stands out on a photo taken at night.
• Fade blends your letters from your color into a second shade, which suits a soft, dreamy sticker.
• Ring wraps your letters in a white edge and a darker shade of your color, which gives a loud reaction a bold, badge like finish.

Pick a motion

Tap your text, pick an animation in the Motion row and set how fast it plays with the Speed slider. A new text stays still until you pick one.

Here is what you can choose from, with an idea for each:

• Typewriter types your words one letter at a time, which suits a slow "SO... ANYWAY".
• Pop and Bounce bring your words in with a burst of energy, like "I'M UP" right when you jump off the couch.
• Shake rattles your words, like "WHO ATE MY FRIES" on a sticker of you holding up an empty fries box.
• Marquee ← and Marquee → run your words across the sticker from one side or the other, like "BREAKING NEWS: I'M AWAKE" on a sticker of you yawning at noon.
• Wave sends a ripple through your letters, like "SO SLEEPY" on a sticker of you swaying in a hammock.
• Pulse makes your letters grow and shrink in a steady beat, like "CAN'T WAIT" on a sticker of you bouncing in your seat.
• Fade up and Slide in bring your words in softly, like "SEE YOU TOMORROW" over a sticker of you floating away on a giant pillow.

The Speed slider goes up to three times as fast, and most motions can slow down to a tenth of the normal speed for a really slow drift. Emojis you add with the Emoji tool can be animated with most of the same motions, all but Typewriter and Wave, so a flame can pop in right next to your words.

How to choose when the text shows up

On an animated sticker, you choose when text shows up on a timeline, which Apple's Markup and WhatsApp's sticker maker do not describe: in the Dappi editor, every text gets its own bar under your sticker, and you drag its ends to choose when it appears and when it leaves.

Drag the whole bar to show the text earlier or later. This is how you split a caption into two parts that play one after the other, like a sticker of you staring at a slice of cake, with "I SHOULDN'T" for the first two seconds and "BUT I WILL" for the rest. You can also use it for subtitles, one short line after another.

The timeline also trims your sticker. Drag the handles at each end of the clip to keep only the best part, and your texts keep the times you set.

Can you add text to an animated sticker?

Yes, you can add text to an animated sticker in an editor that works on video, and this is where text works best, because your words can play along with what happens in the sticker. The Dappi editor adds text to any animated AI sticker made with AI Sticker or AI Pro.

With AI Sticker, you start from your own photo, describe the scene you want, and get an animated sticker. Your caption can then react to the action, and the timeline lets it land at exactly the right moment, like a sticker of you balancing a spoon on your nose while more spoons stack up on top of it, with "STEADY..." for the first seconds and "NAILED IT" the moment the last spoon lands.

AI Pro goes further. It first makes an AI picture of you in the style and scene you choose, then animates it, so you decide the whole scene your words play in. You can build the moment around your caption, like you as a 3D cartoon racing a giant snail down a city street, with "ON MY WAY" at the start and "NOT TODAY, SNAIL" as the snail pulls ahead. AI stickers use credits or a monthly plan.

Common problems when you add text to a sticker

The usual problems are a caption that is too long, words that cover your face, letters that vanish into the photo, and text that shows up at the wrong moment.

• If the Dappi editor stops your typing, you have reached 30 characters. Split the words into a second text.
• If the app says "Text is full (max 7)", the sticker already has seven texts. Join two short ones into one, or use Word art for one of them.
• If your words cover the action, drag them to the top or the bottom and pinch them smaller.
• If your letters get lost in a busy photo, switch the Look to Outline or Box.
• If a line shows up too early or too late, drag the ends of its bar on the timeline.

Can you add text to a sticker in WhatsApp?

Yes, WhatsApp has its own sticker maker that lets you add text to a sticker you make from a photo, as WhatsApp's help page says (checked on November 8, 2026).

The steps are in the first section of this guide. WhatsApp's help page does not describe animated text, so the words stay still.

Dappi gives your words more to work with: fonts, looks, a row of motions, a timeline for when each line shows up, and an AI video sticker underneath them. To send a Dappi sticker to WhatsApp, tap WhatsApp on the sticker's page and paste it into the chat.

Dappi is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by WhatsApp LLC, Meta, or Apple. WhatsApp is a trademark of WhatsApp LLC.

What should I write on my sticker?

Write the replies you already type every day, because a sticker with words on it is a reply you can send again and again.

When you don't feel like typing at all, tap Word art in the Dappi editor for ready animated phrases that come with their own look, like OMG!!, NOPE., LET'S GO! and Good Morning!, and you place and time them the same way as your own text. For ideas of what can happen in the sticker itself, see the guide to AI sticker prompts, and for reactions that make the chat laugh, the guide to funny stickers.

One sticker can answer lots of different messages once you give it the right words. Take a sticker of a slow, approving nod: with "DEAL." under it, it answers a plan for Friday night, and with "I KNEW IT" it becomes your reply to the group chat's latest gossip. You could even write "PROCEED" on it for the friend who asks if they should order a second dessert.