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Facebook is about to create its own version of Bitmoji; heres what it looks like
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Facebooks Android app has some code that calls for Facebook avatars, though that aspect of the code has yet to be released. - photo by Herb Scribner
Facebook is adding a new avatar feature that is definitely not in any way Bitmojis (except they totally are).

According to TechCrunch, Facebooks Android app has some code that calls for Facebook Avatars, though that aspect of the code has yet to be released.

These avatars essentially would be animated versions of Facebook users. You would have the opportunity to change your avatar's hairstyle, skin color and appearance to look more like you.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed to TechCrunch that the avatars are coming.

Were looking into more ways to help people express themselves on Facebook, the spokesman said.

But the feature is still in development. Facebook remains unsure when it will launch to the public.

However, Facebook already has a description of the feature for users, according to TechCrunch.

Your Facebook Avatar is a whole new way to express yourself on Facebook. Leave expressive comments with personalized stickers. Use your new avatar stickers in your Messenger group and private chats.

If this sounds familiar, its because youre probably one of the people who has downloaded Bitmoji, an app that has sat on the top 10 charts of app downloads for months. That app already integrates with Snapchat. People who use Bitmoji build their avatars for use in Snapchat or other messaging apps.

Facebook has already started using cartoon avatars for other features, like virtual reality, according to Mashable. In fact, Facebook upgraded its virtual reality avatars to be more realistic and look more like humans.

The company said it will eventually allow its artificial intelligence system to create avatars on its own.

Still, we wouldn't be surprised if users will instead create these avatars the old-fashioned way, by adding traits to a blank starter face, Mashable reported. You know, definitely not the way you create a Bitmoji.

Bitmojis parent company Bitstrips first rose to fame in 2008. People used the service to create their own avatars for, funnily enough, their Facebook profile pictures, according to Engadget.

Snapchat later acquired Bitmoji, which is owned by Bitstrips, in 2016.

Bitmoji is consistently in the top of app charts, sometimes even ahead of Snapchat and Facebook, so it's a surprise Facebook has waited so long to get in on the action, according to Engadget. But in order to avoid simply being a clone of other offerings it'll have to take some time to make its own avatar feature something special.