Meta avatars now work in Messenger video calls

Not ready to show your real face in a Messenger or Instagram video call? You now have the option of replacing it with your Meta avatar.

Meta avatars are virtual, cartoony versions of you that you can create in your Facebook or Instagram account settings and use as stickers on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger.

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Now, however, the avatars are getting a far more prominent function: you can use them as an animated version of you in a video call. Meta says the feature is primarily aimed for those times when you're "not camera-ready", so instead of chatting audio-only, you can now go the avatar route instead.

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The Messenger and Instagram apps will use your phone's video camera to replicate your facial expressions on the avatar's face. It could be a better option than just not having any video, but it will be interesting to see how this feels for the people you're calling after, say, 30 minutes of talking to a cartoon character.

Avatar video calls work on both Android and iOS.

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The company also announced a few other avatar-related features, including animated avatar stickers for Instagram, Facebook Stories and Reels, and one-on-one message threads on Messenger and Instagram.

A particularly interesting new option is creating your avatar on Facebook and WhatsApp just by taking a live selfie and having the app generate the avatar for you, though this appears to be just a test for a limited audience.