What's New WeChat: Animated Emojis and Customized Status Updates

Cut the chit-chat and gather around to learn the latest about everyone's favorite super-app in our ongoing column, What's New WeChat.

Note: New functions roll out slowly, and some phones may not have yet received the updates discussed in this article.

WeChat emojis are now animated

Get ready for your chats to get a whole lot more explosive. WeChat's new version 8.0 comes with a long-awaited update to the app's signature emojis. Now when you send someone an emoji (from the built-in selection that comes with WeChat), it animates when sending, so that [Puke] emoji actually pukes when it pops up in the chat. Some of the animations are pretty low-key, but the [Bomb] and [Fireworks] emojis have pretty big effects — we can see the latter being very popular during the upcoming Spring Festival celebrations.

So far the animations only seem to work if you send the emojis individually, i.e., with no adjacent text. The only thing we're disappointed about is that they replaced the [Hammer] emoji with a frying pan — less violent, we suppose. 

Set a customized personal status

This update transported your editor straight back to the days of AIM and MSN Messenger (showing our age there). Prepare your favorite emo song lyrics, because now WeChat lets you set a personal status on your profile page. 

After you receive the app update, go to "Me" in the bottom and you'll see a box marked "Status" beneath your name and profile picture. Then you'll be taken to a page where you can choose from one of 21 different moods, broken into categories like "Feelings," "Activities," and "Breaks." Pick one and then you can enter your own custom text or hashtag, and even add a picture background. If you click on the tiny icon below your status (the WeChat logo in the screengrab above), you'll see a list of all your contacts that have chosen the same mood as you.

For us, what WeChat really needs is an actual away message — we can't imagine that demanding client is going to see the tiny icon for sleep and think, "I should probably wait until morning to send this totally essential message." Just be sure you don't choose "slackin'" if you're friends with your boss on WeChat.

No limit on the number of floating windows

In probably the least exciting news among the new updates, there is now no limit to the number of floating windows you can have on the go at any one time. You can also set a wider range of page types as floating windows, including favorited notes and document previews.

READ: What's New WeChat: Sticker Organization, Quoting Comes to PC, and Crypto-RMB Tests Begin

Images: WeChat, the Beijingers