Blow a Kiss
Prompt, Classic, 3 secondsblowing a kiss into the camera, red hearts flying out endlessly and filling the frame
How to make animated stickers for WhatsApp on iPhone
To make an animated WhatsApp sticker on iPhone, send a short video as a GIF from WhatsApp, turn a video into a sticker with a sticker maker app, make an AI sticker from words in WhatsApp where it is available, or animate a photo of you with an AI sticker app.
- A video under six seconds: send it as a GIF straight from WhatsApp, with no other app. It plays the clip exactly as you filmed it.
- A video or GIF you want to keep in your sticker tray: a sticker maker app cuts it down to WhatsApp's size and adds it as an animated sticker.
- Only an idea: WhatsApp's AI stickers make a sticker from words, where the feature is available.
- A photo of you, and something new you want it to do: an AI sticker app animates the photo from a prompt, a short description of what happens.
Can I make WhatsApp stickers without an app?
Yes, WhatsApp on iPhone can send a short video as a GIF and make stickers from a photo or from words, with no other app. The steps come from WhatsApp's Help Center, checked on November 8, 2026.
A GIF from a short video
- Open the chat and tap the plus button.
- Tap Photos or Photo & Video Library and pick a video under six seconds. Trim a longer video under six seconds with the slider.
- Tap the pencil, then tap GIF in the top right corner.
- Tap send.
To send a Live Photo as a GIF, touch and hold it in the same library and tap Select as GIF. WhatsApp explains this in its guide to creating GIFs.
A sticker from a photo
- In a chat, tap the Stickers icon, then tap Create.
- Tap Use a photo and pick a photo from your gallery.
- On the preview screen, add a sticker or emoji, text or a drawing.
- Tap send.
WhatsApp's Help Center does not say this photo sticker is animated, so expect a still sticker.
AI stickers from a description
In the Stickers menu, tap Create sticker, then Use AI, tap Continue if WhatsApp asks, and type what you want. WhatsApp makes up to four stickers from the words you type, and its AI sticker guide says the feature is only in some countries and accepts descriptions in English, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish. These AI stickers do not use your photo.
Apps that turn a video into an animated WhatsApp sticker
Sticker maker apps on the App Store turn a video, a GIF or a photo from your phone into animated stickers and add them to WhatsApp's sticker tray. Search the App Store for "sticker maker" and check each app's page for what is free and whether it shows ads.
The app has to fit your clip inside WhatsApp's rules for animated stickers, which WhatsApp's Help Center lists: every sticker in the set is animated, each one is 512 by 512 pixels, at most 500 KB, and its animation lasts no more than 10 seconds. So a long video has to be cut short to fit, and it helps to pick the one or two seconds you want before you start.
How to make an animated sticker from a photo for WhatsApp
Use AI Sticker in the Dappi sticker app, where your photo becomes the first frame of a short animated video that does what you write. You need an iPhone on iOS 17 or later, the Dappi sticker app signed in to your account, and WhatsApp on the same phone.
- Tap the purple plus button in the tab bar and choose AI Sticker at the top.
- Under Your photo, tap Camera or Library, then frame the square you want.
- Tap the Model bar and choose a model. Classic is made for everyday stickers and wants a short prompt with one action. Premiere and Premiere Lite take long prompts, so pick one of them for a whole scene.
- Write your prompt in the Describe what happens box, or tap the mic and speak it.
- Set the length with the slider and tap Generate Sticker.
For a reaction you send every day, one strong action is enough. Here is a Classic sticker we made from a single photo, with the exact prompt we wrote:
Premiere and Premiere Lite can also make sound, so you can describe what you want to hear. You hear it when you play the sticker in the app, because stickers and GIFs play without sound in the chat. For styles and AI Pro, which first puts you in a whole new scene, see the guide to the AI sticker maker from a photo. AI stickers use credits or a monthly plan.
How to send an animated sticker in WhatsApp on iPhone
To send a sticker that is already in WhatsApp, open the chat, tap the Stickers icon and tap the sticker, and WhatsApp sends it as soon as you tap it, as its guide to using stickers says. To keep one you use a lot at hand, touch and hold it and tap Add to Favorites.
From the Dappi sticker app
A Dappi sticker goes into WhatsApp by copy and paste. Dappi copies the sticker as an animated GIF, and in our tests since July 2026 it arrives in WhatsApp as an animated sticker.
- On your sticker's page, tap WhatsApp.
- In the Copy to WhatsApp window, tap Copy sticker. Tick "Got it, don't show this again" to skip the window next time.
- When the app says Copied!, tap Open WhatsApp.
- Open the chat, tap the message box and tap Paste.
- Send it.
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 an animated WhatsApp sticker show?
The best animated WhatsApp stickers show you doing something you would never do in real life, as a reaction you will send again and again. Good ones to start with are yes, no, on my way, good night and I love you.
Start from the reaction, then push it further. A thumbs up is the obvious one. A bolder version is you crowd surfing across your own birthday party, or arriving at the office on a jet ski. With AI Pro in Dappi you can go further still and start in a whole new scene, such as you on a podium in the snow while a serious penguin gives you a gold medal.
From a video, pick a clip where one thing happens and is easy to read when small: a wave, a laugh, a head shake, a jump into the pool. Two seconds of a clear action reads better in a chat than ten seconds of a busy scene.
For a big scene in an AI sticker, pick Premiere or Premiere Lite and write it the way you would tell it to a friend, in the order it happens:
- What happens first, then next, and how it ends inside the length you chose, such as "in the first second she steps onto the podium, by the third second the medal is around her neck".
- Your face at each moment, such as a proud grin that turns into happy tears.
- Where the camera is, such as still at face level or slowly pulling back.
- Last, the sound you want to hear in the app, such as cheering or fireworks.
More detail gets closer to what you imagined. For Classic, keep to one action in a short prompt, like the Blow a Kiss prompt above. For more ideas with real prompts, see the AI sticker prompts guide.
Can I send a whole album of stickers to WhatsApp?
A whole set of stickers goes into WhatsApp only from a sticker maker app, which adds the set to your sticker tray, up to 30 stickers in one set by WhatsApp's rules. WhatsApp's own sticker maker and a GIF from a video each make one at a time. Dappi sends to WhatsApp one sticker at a time, by copy and paste, so any sticker can go out the moment it is ready, and the rest wait in albums that you name.
Do my friends need Dappi to see the sticker?
No. Dappi copies the sticker as an animated GIF, and in our tests since July 2026 it arrives in WhatsApp as an animated sticker that the other people in the chat see without Dappi.
That makes it easy to start a sticker war in the group, where everyone answers with a sticker of themselves.
Common problems when you paste a sticker into WhatsApp
Most problems with animated WhatsApp stickers come from the clip's length and from the clipboard, which holds one thing at a time.
- If your video is six seconds or longer, trim it under six seconds with the slider in WhatsApp before you tap GIF.
- If Use AI is missing in the Stickers menu, WhatsApp has not brought AI stickers to your country or account yet.
- If Paste puts in text or a photo instead of your sticker, you copied something else after the sticker. Go back to the sticker's page and tap WhatsApp again.
- If you expected sound, play the sticker in the app you made it in. Stickers play without sound in the chat.
- If you want to send several pasted stickers, copy and paste them one after another.