The pandemic was supposed to have made us all comfortable with video calls, but many folks still don’t particularly enjoy the process.
Having to think about what to wear, or how our hair looks, or even fretting about puffy eyes following another bout of hay fever can sometimes be a bit much, even more so if it’s an early-morning call and your brain is still in bed.
Meta has thankfully taken such drawbacks into consideration and launched cartoon avatars for video calls on Instagram and Messenger.
“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?” Meta said in a post announcing the new feature.
As you’d expect, Meta’s cartoon avatars in video calls follow the movement of your face, and will even capture gestures like eye rolls, so do be careful if your friend tells you something you don’t want to hear. In that way, the avatars responds in a similar way to Apple’s Memoji avatars for FaceTime calls.
A video promoting the new feature, which works for both iOS and Android, reveals that you can also select a cartoon avatar of an owl or llama, or some other animal, though that may be an unwise choice if it’s someone important you’re speaking to.
The company’s avatar system is a key part of its grand metaverse plan, as it’s the cartoon image of you, your friends, and colleagues that populate its envisioned virtual reality world.
Bringing cartoon avatars to its apps, however, is an expansion that makes perfect sense, and one which should prove popular for users who might sometimes prefer to keep their mug off a call.
The company also said it’s working on a tool for Facebook and WhatsApp that makes it even easier to build an avatar by simply taking a live selfie. An update on this should be coming soon.
It’s also launching animated avatar stickers for Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels, Facebook comments, and one-to-one message threads on Messenger and Instagram.
Finally, Meta said it’s standardizing the look of its avatars across all of its platforms, “so the way you show up in VR will match how you show up on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.”
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.