Google Chat on the web will be getting a fun, highly requested update: support for native stickers. Desktop users also get a sticker picker inside the compose box, so you can add vibrant visuals alongside text without needing a pop-up beforehand or visiting a third-party tool to do it.
What’s changing in the Google Chat composer
The sticker option resides alongside the current GIF controls in the message box, and is symbolized by a simple sticker icon to its left. Tap that, and there’s a sticker catalog much like the one in Gboard and Google Messages, which formalizes how visual reactions and playful responses are folded into casual conversation.
The feature is possible in both contexts where the web experience exists: chat.google.com and the Chat tab on Gmail. By stashing stickers and GIFs behind a single point of entry, the interface reduces toolbar clutter and ensures that visual replies feel as seamless as typing up a message.
Availability and rollout details for Google Chat stickers
Google says the feature will roll out by default to all users—no need for an admin to configure it or an end user to activate it. Like other Workspace feature releases, it’ll take up to 15 days before everyone ends up with this change.
Currently, the special sticker interface is available only via the web. The mobile apps do not yet feature this new picker, but you can still insert stickers from your phone’s keyboard if it has one. So that means you’re going to see the biggest changes for teams that live in the browser on Firefox immediately, and then mobile over time.
Why Stickers Are Important For Work and The Community
Stickers have evolved beyond novelty. Visual signals may take the edge off tone, accelerate understanding and reduce misinterpretation—particularly in fast-paced channels. Studies cited by the Adobe Emoji Trend Report and other communication research such as those from Nielsen Norman Group have recorded increasing approval of visual reactions in professional settings, especially when work is distributed.
Other collaboration and messaging platforms have long made this shift. Microsoft Teams comes with meme and sticker packs, Discord has been monetizing premium sticker packs, and Telegram and LINE have developed lively sticker ecosystems that enable people to communicate nuances in mere glances. This action by Google brings Chat in line with how people already communicate culturally elsewhere.
Examples of practical use cases abound: giving a sticker in acknowledgment of a duty, for humor to the stress frenzy amidst an unfruitful deploy, or even to start your memory lane celebration sprint without posting another “+1” message.
For communities, stickers are essentially a common vocabulary that forges belonging without derailing the thread.
Implications For Google’s Approach To Messaging
That joins recent web-first improvements to Chat, such as mailbox referral-Gemini-swipe-assisted message refinement, which helps clean up drafts before they’re sent. Combined, they suggest a browser that serves as Google’s testing ground for features both whimsical and productivity-minded, delivered with minimum friction.
The unified sticker-and-GIF icon is also an embodiment of a larger UI strategy across Workspace: cut down on decision points, keep the compose box clean … and rich media just as accessible as plain text. That consistency is important for what Chat does inside Gmail as an integrated app, where users already flick among mail, meetings, docs and chat in a single tab.
Tricks to make the best use of stickers in Chat
Agree on light etiquette. Encourage stickers for efficient acknowledgments or team culture moments — launches, birthdays, deal wins — to keep high-signal threads focused. Create a short internal guide that new hires can reference to understand what “counts” as an elicit, or at least encourages other team members to respond versus reply.
Remember, for admins, stickers act like other rich media in terms of compliance. For those whose organization leverages retention, DLP or audit tooling in Workspace, stickers are supposed to follow the same policies that apply to images and GIFs. That way, the fun doesn’t need to be had at the expense of governance.
When the rollout hits your account, just search for the sticker face icon in your message field on the web. It’s a tiny little feature with boatloads of charisma when it comes to chats — and hopefully one you won’t need to leave the browser or switch tools for.
