Snapchat Integrates Bitmoji Into App, Letting Users Send And Snap Their Own Avatars

After reportedly purchasing Bitstrips, the company behind the popular Bitmoji app in a $100 million deal last March, Snapchat has now integrated the service — which enables users to create their own self-styled avatars that can then be placed into expressive poses or scenarios — into its own app.

In a video posted today (below), Snapchat announced the integration, instructing users to download the Bitmoji app to create their own personal emojis, which they can then link back to their Snapchat accounts. Snapchatters who already have a Bitmoji can link the two accounts in Settings. Like Snapchat’s recently released trove of Stickers, Bitmojis can be sent through chat or pasted into Snaps. Additionally, if users are Snapchatting with friends that also have a Bitmoji, both users will be able to create Friendmojis

— special two-person Bitmojis that feature each participant.

“We fell in love with the Bitmoji team and their amazing products,” Snapchat said in a company blog post composed entirely of Bitmoji cartoons. “And we are so excited to welcome them as a new part of the Snapchat family.”

The Bitmoji integration follows another new feature unveiled by Snapchat earlier this month called Memories, which lets users save old Snaps and Stories — thus moving the platform beyond its origins as a means of exclusively capturing and sharing fleeting moments.