WhatsApp celebrates the new year with a festive update
With the end of 2025 drawing ever closer WhatsApp is getting ready for its busiest period. As the clock strikes midnight around the world, a surge of messages will be sent over the platform, and Meta is using the arrival of 2026 as a launchpad for new features and options – as well as highlighting recent additions which lend themselves to this time of year.
The company has focused on the celebratory and connective nature of New Year, providing new ways to liven up the messages you send to friends and family. There is quite a lot here, from new stickers and call effects, to the arrival of animated stickers in Status updates.
WhatsApp uses its New Year blog post to highlight just how important it has become to people staying in touch with each other. The company says: “New Year’s is our biggest day at WhatsApp, with each year breaking new records for how people text and call their friends and loved ones”.
It goes on to say:
On a regular day, we support over 100 billion messages and 2 billion calls - but the twenty four hours when the world welcomes a New Year always tops our charts. Whether it's a video call that unites families across continents, or a group chat that organizes a celebration, we’re proud to play a small role in making people’s wishes for next year special.
When it comes to the new ways to celebrate with WhatsApp, attention is drawn to a quartet of features – features which WhatsApp describes as “festive touches [that will] help you share the moment with people who matter most”:
- 2026 sticker pack: share your joy for the coming new year with our latest 2026 sticker pack.
- Video call effects: tap the effects icon during a video call to add fireworks, confetti, and star animations that light up the screen as you celebrate.
- Animated confetti reactions: we’re bringing back special reactions when you use the confetti emoji to react to messages.
- Status updates: for the first time, we're bringing animated stickers to Status! Use a special 2026 layout with an animated sticker to help you ring in the New Year.
But WhatsApp is keen to highlight the fact that it can be used for much more than just sending messages and making calls – adorned with festive extras or not. For anyone who is organizing a party, a gathering, a get-together, a meal out, or any other form of celebration – be that for the arrival of 2026, or any other reason – the blog post shares some tips for how WhatsApp can be used to help:
- Create an event, pin in to the chat to keep it top of mind, collect RSVPs, and keep everyone in the loop.
- Use polls to pick food, drinks, and activities.
- Share live location to help friends find their way to the party and to let you know they’ve gotten home safely.
- Send video and voice notes to capture and share authentic moments as they happen with friends who can’t attend so they’ll be sure to be there with you next year.
Are these features that you will be making use of in the run-up to your New Year celebrations?
