“We’re bringing avatars to WhatsApp!” declared Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a blog post on Facebook this week. “Now you can use your avatar as a sticker in chats. More styles coming soon across all our apps.”
An avatar is a digital version of oneself that can be created from billions of combinations of diverse hair styles, facial features, and outfits. On WhatsApp, users can now create a personalised avatar as profile photo or choose from one of 36 custom stickers reflecting many different emotions and actions.
Sending an avatar can be a great way to represent yourself without using your real photo, so it feels more private.
Many people already use avatars on WhatsApp but have had to create these in 3rd party apps or sites. For many others, this will be the first time creating an avatar. Meta promised it would continue to deliver style enhancements, including lighting, shading, hair style textures.