WhatsApp gets a free festive update just in time for New Year

WhatsApp is one of the world's most popular chat apps, and it's also one of the most frequently updated – so of course the service wasn't going to shut up shop for the holiday season without adding a few new festive features first.

Where previous updates have focused on more practical upgrades, such as last month's voice notes transcripts or October's introduction of chat category filtering, these features are more like Christmas cards: pretty pointless but a bit of festive fun.

The new features arrive today, 20 December, and they'll be available until after the New Year – the last day to use them will be 3rd of January. Think of them as silicon tinsel or Christmas trees: they're fun, but you don't want them to be hanging around forever.

WhatsApp's festive features for your phone

There are three key additions, and they're coming to both the iPhone and Android whether you've been naughty or nice. The focus is very much on New Year's Eve rather than Christmas day, so all three additions are built on that theme.

The first new feature adds special effects for those happy new year video calls. That gives you a new festive background, filter and video effect. Just make sure you turn them off if you're doing any work calls over the holiday period.

Next up there are automated animations. They'll kick in whenever you use any of the party-themed emoji and when they do, both sender and recipient will get some on-screen confetti.

It works much like similar features do in other messaging apps when you use words like "congratulations", but by sticking with emoji you're less likely to trigger them by accident.

And thirdly, there's a collection of new New Year's Eve-themed stickers and avatars for those messages you'd rather not do by video.

The updated version of the app is live now on both platform's app stores.