Snapchat now sells personalized Bitmoji swag
If you've ever had the urge to rock your Bitmoji IRL, you're in luck.
Snapchat will open an in-app store where you can buy swag personalized with you and your friend's Bitmoji avatars. The feature is only available in Snapchat's iPhone app in the United States.
In the store, which will appear in Snapchat's main settings menu on November 15th, you'll find a ton of random items, including sweatshirts and t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and shower curtains. Each one can be personalized with a different Bitmoji or a Friendmoji, which also features your friends' avatars.
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The new Bitmoji section of Snapchat's store comes as the app moves deeper into in-app commerce. The app has been experimenting with shoppable ads in Stories, and has a partnership with Amazon to make it easier to find products using the Snapchat camera.
The app's store, which up until now has sold an assortment of Snapchat-branded items like a dancing hotdog plushie, is a bit separate from those efforts, as the in-app store is buried within the app's settings menu. But it will help Snap further capitalize on the popularity of its cartoon avatars.
Bitmoji was the most downloaded app of 2017, according to Apple, beating out the main Snapchat app for the number one place. Snap also started making Bitmoji more accessible from outside apps via its developer tools.
Separately, Snapchat announced another new Bitmoji feature that will soon be coming to the app: Bitmoji Stories. The feature, which are beginning to roll out this week, adds a new Bitmoji-themed Story to Snapchat's Discover page. The Stories themselves look a bit like a comic strip, and will be personalized based on your activity in Snapchat. They'll also feature your friends' Bitmoji.
Finally, Snapchat is adding new "Friendship Profile," which the company says is the "fastest way to find the highlights of your friendship." The profiles offer a quick overview of everything you've ever saved in a private chat or group conversation on Snapchat.
Though it's not actually showing anything new -- all of your old saved content has always technically been accessible -- it makes it significantly easier to find older posts. Snapchat has let you save specific messages in its app for years, but it's emphasized ephemerality more than the saving feature. Friendship Profiles, however, makes group messages in particular feel more like those on iMessage or other platforms.
Topics Snapchat Social Media
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
