December is one of the most special months of the year, maybe even the most special and happiest, depending on who you ask. Christmas 2024 is here, so to celebrate it we are going to give it away a Christmas look on our WhatsApp.
The messaging application does not officially have a “WhatsApp mode” which completely transforms its interface, however, you can still change its look and give it a look more in line with this holiday season. And on Android we have many possibilities to do this.
How to have WhatsApp with “Christmas mode” in a few steps
To give a Christmas look to our WhatsApp, the first thing we will do is give a Christmas look to the screen that we see the most when using the application, the chat wallpaper. This way, when we talk to a friend or loved one, the background of this conversation will be enhanced with a Christmas theme.
First of all, We need an image with a Christmas theme that we really liketo use as wallpaper in all chats. We have many options: for example, if you are proud of the Christmas tree in your home, or if you really love the tree in your town and have taken a photo of it, why not use it as a backdrop? plan of your discussions? For the rest we can use any Christmas image that we download from trusted pages. One of my favorites is the free Unsplash image bank, where you can find images like this, like this, or like this, and many more.
After selecting and downloading the image to our mobile, we just have to apply it as wallpaper in our chats. We follow these steps:
- We go to WhatsApp and click on the button in the form of three points in the upper right corner
- Then click on 'Discussions'
- In the next menu we select 'wallpaper'
- Now click on 'Change'
What we will do next is search in our image gallery for the photo or image that we want to use, and we confirm its selection as wallpaper. From now on, all WhatsApp chats will have the same Christmas background. In my case, I chose an image that was a bit minimalist but still very cute.
In addition to changing the wallpaper of all chats, we can also change WhatsApp icon directly. This is so that the app no longer appears with the same boring green icon, but instead we can use a custom image with a Santa hat, for example.
The simplest and most direct option to change the icon of WhatsApp (or any other application) is install a launcherand one of our favorites is Nova Launcher. After installation, we can create a shortcut to the app using a custom image, which doesn't even need to include the WhatsApp logo, it can be a background or something else.
- Download Nova Launcher from the Google Play Store and configure it as you prefer
- Go to the desktop and hold the WhatsApp icon until the menu appears with the “Edit” option. Click on this menu then on the application icon
- Go to “Applications” and upload the icon or image you want to use
- Adjust its size so that it is seen correctly
- Click “Done” and you have already replaced the WhatsApp icon with the one you prefer
We can also change the tone of WhatsApp message notifications for something more Christmassy, for example the sound of bells. In WhatsApp we go to “Settings” then “Notifications”, and in this section we choose the tone we want to use.
Last but not least, we can use Christmas stickers in our discussions. WhatsApp offers us the possibility of creating an avatar based on our appearance, and after creating it, we can use the stickers of our avatar to send messages of “Happy Holidays”, and even a “Happy New Year”, the moment came.
Creating our avatar is very simplejust follow these steps:
- We go to WhatsApp and click on the three-dot button in the upper right corner
- We select 'Avatar' and click 'Edit'
- WhatsApp he will ask us to take a selfie to use as a reference for our avatar, and once created we can customize its appearance and clothing
Once the avatar is created, we can use our custom stickers. In addition, we can add new Christmas stickers directly from WhatsApp:
- In any chat, click the button to send stickers then click the magnifying glass button
- Following, write “Christmas” and the app will search for all related stickers. You can send any sticker and save it to your phone to use whenever you want
In this way, my WhatsApp is already in Christmas mode, and will remain so at least until 2025 arrives.
Cover image | Created with DALL-E 3
In Xataka Android | How to know if they are spying on your WhatsApp from another device? Checking it doesn't take a minute and can save you money
In Xataka Android | Eight ingenious uses for WhatsApp Web that go beyond chat
