WhatsApp adds support for Live Photos, Motion Photos, and other stuff

After testing it with a limited group of beta users, WhatsApp has started rolling out support for sharing Live Photos on iOS devices. The feature is also available for Android users under the name of Motion Photos.

For the uninitiated, Live Photos is a feature on iOS that records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture. You can edit a Live Photo, pick a different frame, or add a fun effect. Google added a feature called Motion Photos on Android, which works in a similar way.

You can share Live Photos in their original format, preserving their motion and audio, across different platforms. This update leaves behind the days when Live Photos were sent as static images or low-quality GIFs on WhatsApp, even without their sound.

We have reported that WhatsApp has been testing support for these dynamic images on both Android and iOS devices over the past few months. When you share a Live Photo through WhatsApp, a Live Photo icon will appear in the image viewer, which you can tap to enable or disable the live effect. A Live Photo shared from an iPhone will be received as a Motion Photo on Android.

Apart from that, WhatsApp is also rolling out a new feature that lets you create backgrounds for WhatsApp video calls using Meta AI. You can put yourself in your favorite surroundings or add AI backgrounds when taking photos and videos directly in chats.

These new AI filters are built on top of the existing filters WhatsApp already offers for video calls. It was spotted testing filters and AR effects for video calls last year and later introduced sets of 10 filters and 10 backgrounds, alongside 'Touch up' and 'Low Light' options for video calls.

Speaking of AI features, WhatsApp recently rolled out support for Message Translations in its Android and iOS apps. WhatsApp also updated the calling experience for group chats by merging the video and audio calling buttons into a single menu.

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Posted Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 1:21 pm AEST (my time).

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