How to make a WhatsApp sticker from any photo

Choose a photo in the sticker maker. The person in it is cut out and given a white outline straight away; add a caption if you like, then press 512 × 512 to save a WebP under 100 KB, the size WhatsApp asks for custom stickers. You add the file to WhatsApp yourself, with WhatsApp's own sticker maker or a sticker-pack app.

Steps

1. Open the sticker maker and choose a photo. JPG, PNG and WebP work.
2. Wait while the person is found on your device. They are cut out and outlined in white.
3. For a pet, a toy or food instead, choose Tap to pick under Keep and tap it. Add a part adds pieces the first tap missed.
4. Under Outline, pick a colour (Black, White, Yellow, Red, Blue, any colour you choose, or None) and set the Thickness.
5. Under Shadow, choose Soft if the sticker will sit on a light chat background.
6. Under Caption, type a word or two. It sits under the cut-out, inside the same outline. Pick its colour.
7. Press 512 × 512 for the chat sticker, or Download PNG for the full-size copy.

What WhatsApp asks for, and what the file is

WhatsApp's help page for custom stickers asks for 512 × 512 pixel stickers of at most 100 KB each for static stickers. The square download is made to match:

The WebP quality is stepped down only as far as it must go to fit under 100 KB. In Safari, which cannot save WebP by itself, the page loads a small encoder from this site and makes the WebP on your device. Only if that cannot run either is the square file a PNG, and the page tells you.

If the page warns that the square copy is over 100 KB even at its lowest quality, use a thinner outline, turn the shadow off or pick a smaller area.

Adding it to WhatsApp

This page makes the file and stops there; it has no connection to WhatsApp. To use the sticker, add the 512 × 512 file with WhatsApp's own sticker maker, where your version of the app offers one, or with a sticker-pack app that builds packs from your images. Those apps follow WhatsApp's pack rules, such as how many stickers a pack holds.

On a phone, Share sends the PNG straight to another app on the device, without uploading it anywhere.

Photos that make good stickers

• One face, big in the frame, with a clear expression. Stickers are seen small; a laugh or a frown reads, a group shot does not.
• The whole head inside the photo. A head cut off by the edge leaves a flat side on the sticker.
• A plain-ish background. The person is found on most backgrounds, but a cluttered one with other people can confuse the edge.
• A short caption. One to three words in the bold condensed lettering stay readable at chat size; a sentence does not.

When a tap cannot pick it

Choose Area under Keep for anything a tap cannot pick out, such as a pattern or a screenshot. Drag the box over what to keep, as a Rectangle or a Circle, and the outline goes around that shape.

Questions

Is the sticker free to make?

Yes, with no sign-up, no limit and no watermark on the sticker.

Why is the PNG bigger than the 512 × 512 file?

The PNG keeps the full size of your photo with every pixel exact. The square copy is scaled down to 512 pixels and saved as a lighter WebP.

The edge around the hair looks soft. Can I fix it?

A thicker outline covers most of it. Very fine hair and fur are softened rather than cut strand by strand.

Is my photo uploaded to make the sticker?

No. The person is found and the sticker drawn in your browser. The models are downloaded once from this site, and the photo stays on your device.