WhatsApp adds Live Photos and Motion Photos support plus AI themes

WhatsApp began rolling out a package of features in late September that allow iPhone and Android users to share Live Photos and Motion Photos with motion and sound, add scanned documents from inside the app, and apply new Meta AI-powered customizations to chats and video calls. Meta confirmed the updates in a company post and said the features are appearing for users worldwide as they are gradually deployed.

The most visible change is support for Apple's Live Photos on iOS and Google's Motion Photos on Android. When users send or receive one of these images in WhatsApp, it now plays briefly with its recorded audio and shows a Live Photo indicator in the corner of the image viewer. Tapping the indicator enables or disables the live effect. Live Photos sent from an iPhone will appear as Motion Photos on Android devices and vice versa. The company said the capability eliminates the prior behavior in which these dynamic images were delivered as static photos or low quality GIFs without sound. Meta and WhatsApp tested the feature with a limited group of beta users before the wider rollout, and some users report they can receive but not yet send Live Photos while the deployment continues.