It wasn’t too long ago that WhatsApp introduced stickers to its platform. However unlike other messaging platforms such as LINE that has its own store for stickers and themes, WhatsApp users who wanted to add stickers had to download sticker packs which existed as apps. This is highly inefficient and would result in hundreds of sticker apps populating the app store.
So much so that according to reports, this could be why WhatsApp has disabled the App Store shortcut for stickers on iOS devices. This is a server-side change meaning that there doesn’t need to be any input from the user. Prior to this, iOS WhatsApp users who wanted to download stickers could find a link in WhatsApp that would launch the App Store and show various sticker apps that are available.
However like we said, the potential to flood the store with sticker apps does seem problematic and on Apple’s end, there have been reports of such apps already being removed. The removal of the shortcut link to the App Store could be WhatsApp’s way of discouraging users to find stickers in that fashion.
The only way to “fix” this would be for WhatsApp to create a sticker store of their own, although we imagine that having to give Apple a 30% cut of all in-app purchases is probably not something the company relishes.