Facebook's version of Bitmoji avatars seemingly discovered in app code

The personalized emoji stickers are designed to be used across Facebook, but particularly within Messenger.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent

Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.

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Katie Collins

May 8, 2018 4:23 a.m. PT

dcitad-wkagvlwx — College student Jane Wong discovered the avatars in Facebook's app.
@wongmjane

Facebook might be considering upping its emoji game with avatars that rival Snapchat-owned Bitmoji, according to code found hidden in its Android app by a developer.

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth computer science student Jane Wong posted images on Twitter that appear to be from within the Facebook app, showing the option to create an avatar as "a whole new way to express yourself." The personalized stickers can be edited to look just like you and seem to be for use across Facebook, but particularly within Messenger, according to screenshots posted by Wong.

Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch, which first reported the news, that it is building the avatars.

"We're looking into more ways to help people express themselves on Facebook," said a spokeswoman for the company when CNET asked for comment.

The cartoon-like images look similar to Bitmoji, popular emoji stickers that can be customized to match your appearance. Snap bought Bitstrips, the company that makes Bitmoji, back in March 2016 and it's been operating a subsidiary ever since.

Wong also helped with the discovery that Twitter may be working on encrypted end-to-end messages.