Snapchat has released 'Bitmoji Deluxe', and it adds more skin tones, hairstyles, eye and hair colors, facial features, and accessories, to ensure that users' avatars look exactly like them no matter what.
Bitmoji Deluxe is a much more configurable version of Snapchat's cartoon-like avatars. In order to embrace the diversity of its users, Snapchat additional customization allows users to customize their avatar using with about countless of different looks.
"You’ll find additional skin tones, hairstyles, hair colors, facial features, accessories and more! To make selecting your physical attributes easier - like picking the eyebrows and nose that look most like yours," said Snapchat on its blog post.
To use the feature, users just need to take a selfie, and use that picture as a reference for creating their avatar.
WIth Bitmoji Deluxe, they can choose from a variety of combinations using 40 skin tones, 50 hair colors, 50 hair treatment options and more, so the avatars will look like them no matter what. And not just that, they can also choose a variety of facial features, accessories and hairstyle options.
The feature will put the chosen option directly on top of the avatar builder. If users prefer their previous avatar, they can still use the old 'Bitmoji Classic' and 'Bitstrip styles'.
Once available, the Bitmoji Deluxe can be accessed through the settings option inside the Bitmoji, and tap on 'change avatar style'. Users can also do this in Snapchat by tapping 'edit Bitmoji,' which will then take them to the Bitmoji app.
According to Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, more hairstyles, in particular, was a big request from the Snapchat community.
The company said that it has gathered feedback from Bitmoji users and the internal team about new options
"We built the Bitmoji Deluxe style, in many ways from the ground up, to offer our community a more visual design flow with added feature options, as well as build a back-end that allows for continued investments and more flexibility in the future," said a Snap spokeswoman in a statement.
Bitmoji Deluxe was made possible using Snap's acquisition of Bitstrip, the company behind Bitmoji back in 2016 for a reported $64 million in cash and stock. Since then, Snapchat has integrated Bitmoji into its app, with features like Friendmoji stickers, 3D Bitmoji world lenses, and Bitmoji geofilters.
This feature should make Snapchat more interesting, a welcome addition from a company that struggles with user growth.
Bitmoji Deluxe is initially available on Snapchat, Apple's iMessage, Google's Gboard and other messaging apps. The company says it will continue to introduce new designs to make the app more inclusive and customizable.