Snapchat is introducing a new avatar style to express “more nuanced emotions”.
Bitmoji, owned by Snap Inc., the company that developed Snapchat, is an app that allows users to personalise emojis and share them with other individuals via text message, and social media such as Facebook, Messenger, and Slack. Users can create their personal cartoon caricatures, which they design to look like themselves, then use them to express different emotions with their friends.
They said: “For 15 years, Bitmoji has offered our community a way to truly represent themselves online, and 1.7 billion avatars have been created worldwide.
“Today, we’re excited to introduce our new avatar style that brings the magic of Bitmoji to 3D in a much more immersive way. It will be rolling out globally over the coming weeks!
“The new avatar style improves characteristics like hair texture, face shading, and body proportions. Your Bitmoji can now have a bolder smile, a more astonished face when they’re surprised, and can express even the most subtle and nuanced emotions.”
“Plus, we’re improving how you engage with your Bitmoji, like enhanced editing that allows you to modify your avatar in 3D, using zoom and rotating features to get a closer look,” they added.
“There is also a great deal of care and craftsmanship involved in translating real garments into the Bitmoji world — down to the last stitch. With the new avatar, digital clothing will look much more realistic, allowing you to better portray your personal style just as you would in the real world, on Snapchat.”
Snapchat has also introduced various other features in recent years. Back in May, the app debuted a new filter that lets you try on nail polish colours. You can use the filter to apply a range of nail polish lacquers to your fingernails, using your phone’s front-facing and selfie cameras, which boast quirky names like Tickle My France-y and Suzi Without a Paddle.
It also gave paying subscribers the ability to pose with pets on its live location feature, Snap Maps. As well as a host of new custom chat wallpapers and Bitmoji backgrounds for subscribers to Snapchat+. Snapchat+ costs £4 a month.
And other companies have started following suit too. Earlier this year, Zoom launched animated avatars that mimic your movements and facial expressions during meetings. Zoom says a cartoon twin can stand in for you in meetings when you don’t want to appear on video, including when you’re eating.
Bitmoji was originally created by the Toronto-based company Bitstrips in 2007. The company specialised in developing digital comic strips that featured personalised avatars. When emojis gained more popularity online in different chat apps, Bitstrips created a separate app called Bitmoji in 2014, and pivoted to specialise in emojis.
