How to Make Custom WhatsApp Stickers on iPhone (Cutout vs a Sticker Pack)
WhatsApp stickers are the fastest way to say something in a group chat, and the packs everyone has are the same packs everyone has. Making your own, from a photo of your dog, a selfie, or an idea you typed, takes a couple of minutes on an iPhone. WhatsApp has a built-in sticker maker for photo cutouts, and Pixmoji makes drawn, emoji-style stickers and installs them as a pack in your WhatsApp keyboard. This guide covers both, how to build a pack instead of a single sticker, and how to make sure the stickers actually show up in WhatsApp.
The short version
- A cutout of a photo, right inside WhatsApp: open a chat, tap the sticker icon, tap Create, pick a photo. Free, built in.
- Drawn, emoji-style stickers as a pack: Pixmoji. Generate from a photo or a few words, Add to Pack, Install Pack, and the pack appears in your WhatsApp sticker tab.
- Ready-made packs in Pixmoji's Explore tab install the same way if you want stickers in the next minute.
How WhatsApp stickers work
WhatsApp stickers are small transparent images grouped into packs. Packs you install appear in the sticker tab of the keyboard, in every chat, on every phone signed into your account. Stickers sent to someone else arrive as stickers, and they can tap one to add your pack to their own keyboard. That last part is why a good pack spreads through a group chat by itself.
Method 1: WhatsApp's built-in sticker maker
- Open any chat in WhatsApp and tap the sticker icon in the text field.
- Tap Create (the pencil icon), then choose a photo from your library.
- WhatsApp cuts the subject out of the background. Add text, emoji, or a doodle if you like.
- Tap Send or save it. The sticker goes into your Favorites tab.
Good for a quick joke: your friend's face from last night's photo, cut out and sent in twenty seconds. The limits are what you would expect from a cutout: it still looks like a photo, edges around hair are rough, there is no art style, and stickers land as loose favorites rather than a pack you can install or share as a set.
Method 2: Make and install a pack with Pixmoji
Pixmoji redraws rather than cuts. A photo, a selfie, or a typed description becomes an illustrated sticker, and stickers collect into packs that install straight into WhatsApp.
- Open Pixmoji and tap the plus button. Choose Image to Emoji for a photo or selfie, or Text to Emoji to describe what you want, such as "sleepy cat" or "superhero panda".
- Generate. The sticker appears with the background removed. For a specific look, put it in the words: "sleepy cat, anime style" or "cute chibi fox".
- Tap Add to Pack. Make a new pack or add to one you started.
- Repeat until the pack has the reactions you want. Eight to twelve stickers is a good pack.
- Open the pack and tap Install Pack. Confirm in WhatsApp when it opens.
- In any WhatsApp chat, tap the sticker icon. Your pack is there.
Packs install from the pack screen, so the same set can go to WhatsApp and be shared to Instagram Stories or sent through iMessage. Our guide on adding stickers to iMessage covers that side, and turning a photo into a sticker covers picking photos that work.
Ready-made packs, if you want stickers now
Pixmoji's Explore tab has packs grouped by theme: cute cats, dogs, baby animals, seasonal sets. Open a pack, tap Install Pack, and it is in WhatsApp a few seconds later. Mix them with your own: a pet pack plus five stickers of your actual pet is the kind of set a group chat adopts.
Building a pack people actually use
- Reactions first. Yes, no, laughing, shocked, eye roll, thumbs up, crying, celebrating. These get sent daily; a beautiful sticker nobody has a reason to send gets sent once.
- One look per pack. If you ask for anime in one prompt, ask for it in all of them. Mixing looks in one pack seems like three different people drew it; see prompting a style.
- One subject per pack. Your face in eight moods, or your dog in eight moods. A pack with a clear character gets a name and a life of its own.
- Big expressions. Stickers are small in the chat. Exaggerate.
- Name the pack. When a friend taps a sticker to add the pack, the name is what they see.
Sharing the pack with the group
Send one sticker into the chat. Anyone who taps it sees the pack name and an option to add the whole pack to their WhatsApp. That is the entire distribution mechanism; there is nothing to export. Friends on Android get the stickers and the pack the same way, since WhatsApp packs are cross-platform.
When stickers do not show up
- The pack is not in WhatsApp. Install Pack hands off to WhatsApp and asks for confirmation there. If you dismissed that screen, open the pack in Pixmoji and tap Install Pack again.
- Stickers appear as images. You shared a single image instead of installing the pack. Use Install Pack, then send from the WhatsApp sticker tab.
- The pack looks empty or has a gray tile. Packs need at least a few stickers; add more and reinstall.
- The pack vanished after reinstalling WhatsApp. Installed packs live in WhatsApp. Your stickers are still in Pixmoji; open the pack and tap Install Pack once more.
Quick answers
How do I make my own WhatsApp stickers on iPhone?
For a quick photo cutout, tap the sticker icon in a WhatsApp chat, then Create, and pick a photo. For drawn stickers in a pack, generate them in Pixmoji from a photo or a description, tap Add to Pack, then Install Pack, and the pack appears in your WhatsApp sticker tab. Pixmoji is free to download.
Can I turn a photo of my dog into a WhatsApp sticker?
Yes. In Pixmoji choose Image to Emoji, pick the photo, generate, and add it to a pack. Install the pack and it is in WhatsApp.
How do I add a sticker pack to WhatsApp?
Open the pack in Pixmoji and tap Install Pack, then confirm in WhatsApp. To add a pack a friend sent, tap one of their stickers in the chat and choose to add the pack.
Do custom WhatsApp stickers work for Android friends?
Yes. WhatsApp stickers and packs are cross-platform. Friends on Android receive them as stickers and can add your pack the same way.
Are the stickers transparent?
Yes. Pixmoji removes the background when it generates the sticker, so it sits cleanly on any chat background.
Give the group chat a new pack
Eight reactions, one look, one character. Download Pixmoji, free to download, build the pack, tap Install Pack, and watch it spread.