Meta says that avatars allow users to answer and join video calls on Instagram and Messenger. The company said that users can now participate in a video call in situations they're not camera-ready: They become animated video calls where you and your friends are seeing and talking to each other but not seeing each other in real-time.

"We've all been there: A call comes in but your hair looks like a hot mess," Meta wrote in a blog post. "Or you've just been bawling your eyes out while re-watching From Scratch. Sometimes, we're just not camera-ready. Wouldn't it be great if there were a third option between camera-off and camera-on to let you feel a little more present on the call? Cue your Meta Avatar."

This is a new feature of real-time calls using your avatar. Some people would love this if they don't want to show their faces on certain video calls. However, it may be considered a rather weird and creepy way of talking to a friend or family member when you could simply talk through a voice call.

The new feature is available on both iOS and Android.

As part of today's announcement, Meta shared a few other updates regarding avatars. According to the firm, it is testing an easier way to create avatars on Facebook and WhatsApp where one can take a live selfie and receive a suggested avatar option generated from your selfie. These options can be picked on and further personalized to represent oneself the best.

Meta also announced that users can share animated avatar stickers across Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels, Facebook comments, and 1:1 message threads on Messenger and Instagram. Now you can send stickers where your avatar does specific actions, like waving hello, dancing, or slow clapping.

In addition, Meta is rolling out the ability to have avatars hang out with friends' avatars in stickers. You will be able to tag several friends to Facebook Stories, thereby being able to be along with friends' avatars in a sticker. The name for the new functionality is "Social Stickers"- it let shares stickers with you and your single friend in a 1:1 message threads.

The new avatars, according to Meta, will begin showing to the users a little differently in comparison with those used by other apps. It pointed out that the proportions seem more proportionate.
"Not everyone wants to look like a cake pop, and you need not either," the blog post wrote. We are standardizing the look of our avatars across all of our services. The way you look in VR will be the same as how you look on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Your avatar will look a bit more realistic, but it will also help you flaunt your 'fits a bit more successfully because the focus won't be on your comically oversized noggin.

Meta said last April that over 1 billion avatars have been created across its platforms. The company launched avatars back in 2020 as an attempt to catch up with Snap's Bitmoji and has been updating them ever so slightly since then to be more lifelike. In today's blog post, Meta says, "Avatars give us a glimpse of the opportunities for self-expression that will be afforded by the metaverse."