Meta announced today that you can now use your avatar to answer and make video calls on Instagram and Messenger. The company says the new functionality will allow users to join video calls when they’re not camera ready. With this feature, you and your friends watch and talk to each other, without actually seeing each other.
The feature is useful for those who don’t want to show their face during certain video calls. On the other hand, it can be seen as a somewhat strange and creepy way to communicate with a friend or family member when you can just communicate through a voice call.
You can now use your Meta avatar in video calls on Instagram and Messenger
The new feature is available for both iOS and Android users.
Aside from that, Meta also shared a few other updates related to avatars. Meta is testing an easier way to create avatars on Facebook and WhatsApp where you can take a live selfie. You can also receive a suggested avatar option generated from your selfie. You can choose from these options and further personalize them to best represent yourself.
In addition, Meta now allows you to share animated avatar stickers in Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels, Facebook comments, and 1:1 message threads on Messenger and Instagram. You can send stickers where your avatar performs certain actions, such as waving hello, dancing, or clapping slowly.
Additionally, Meta is rolling out the ability for user avatars to interact with their friends’ avatars in stickers. You can now tag some friends in Facebook Stories so that you and your friends’ avatars can appear together on a sticker. The new functionality is called “Social Stickers” and lets you share stickers of yourself and a single friend in 1:1 message threads.
See also: Twitter threatens to sue Meta over new Threads app
