WhatsApp taps Meta AI for custom themes and video backgrounds

WhatsApp rolled out a stack of new quality-of-life updates alongside more generative AI integrations, making everyday chats a little easier to navigate and video calls a bit flashier.

Here is what is new across your chats:

Finding forgotten groups and bringing photos to life

We have all been in a group chat with a name so absurd or inside-joke heavy that it is completely impossible to search for weeks later.

WhatsApp fixed this by letting you search for a specific person in your Chats tab to instantly pull up every mutual group you share with them.

Sharing camera roll moments also got an upgrade. You can now send Apple Live Photos on iOS and Motion Photos on Android directly within the app, preserving both sound and movement instead of sending a flat still image.

Android users finally get document scanning built right into the app. You can snap a photo of a physical document, crop the edges, and send it over, matching a feature iPhone users have had for a while. WhatsApp also threw in new sticker packs like Fearless Bird and Vacation for good measure.

Generative themes and custom call backdrops

Meta is continuing its push to weave AI into everyday social moments.

Building on the custom chat themes introduced earlier this year, users can now prompt Meta AI to generate personalized chat themes from scratch. Meta noted that AI-powered capabilities may still not be available to everyone yet.

Video calls also get an AI lift. You can now use Meta AI to generate custom virtual backdrops on the fly, whether you want to look like you are lounging on a beach or floating in deep space. That same backdrop generation also works when capturing photos and videos directly inside a chat.

Why it matters

While AI gets all the headlines, mutual group search and native Android document scanning are the real MVPs here. They solve small, annoying friction points that hundreds of millions of people hit every single week without requiring anyone to learn a new behavior.

As for the AI features, Meta is playing a very deliberate game. Unlike OpenAI or Anthropic chasing enterprise productivity, Meta is sneaking generative models into consumer workflows as bite-sized toys like wallpapers and camera filters. It is all about normalizing AI usage across a multi-billion-user base.

The friction point, however, is app bloat. WhatsApp built its empire on end-to-end encryption, speed, and simplicity. If Meta keeps piling decorative AI features into every nook and cranny of the interface, it risks alienating users who just want a lean, private chat app.