If you liked playing around with Apple’s Memojis, you’ll probably love TikTok’s latest effect.
On Tuesday, TikTok announced a new effect for its wildly popular short-form video-sharing app. It’s called TikTok Avatars, and it allows users to create a customized avatar for themselves that can then be used in recording TikTok videos. Similar to Memojis, TikTok’s Avatars can also “mimic your motion” as you move around.
The new Avatars effect is also expected to offer a variety of appearance customization options, including hairstyles, accessories, makeup, and piercings.
Initially, it was unclear to us if the effect itself is available to all TikTok users right now or if it is still rolling out to everyone. And at first, I was unable to test the new feature on my own Android device as the Avatar effect was nowhere to be found in the Effects menu. Digital Trends then reached out to TikTok to ask about the rollout of the Avatar effect.
Later, after this article was initially published, TikTok told Digital Trends that the effect should be available to everyone now. After hearing from TikTok, I checked the app on my Android device again, and the Avatar effect now appears in the Effects menu.
Here’s how to access the new Avatar effect on TikTok:
Step 1: Open the TikTok app and select the Plus Sign icon.
Step 2: Select the Effects icon that is to the left of the red Record button.
Step 3: On the Effects menu, tap the Magnifying glass icon to search for the Avatar effect. Then type in TikTok Avatars in the search bar.
Step 4: Select the only search result that comes up: TikTok Avatars.
Step 5: You should now be on the TikTok Avatars effect screen. Here you can choose from existing Avatars to record videos with or you can select New to create your own custom avatar.
If you choose to create your own Avatar, you can choose from a wide variety of skin tones, hair colors, hairstyles, face shapes, eyebrow options, eye shapes, eye colors, and more. And the Avatar moves with you as you pick out your options, so you can really see if it looks right to you.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?