Bitmoji allows users to create and share personalized avatars, which can be used in messaging apps, email, social media, and more. Users can customize their Bitmoji in a thousands of ways to make it look like them or someone completely different.
The Bitmoji Chrome extension brings the user-created avatars from your phone to your computer. With it, you can access all your Bitmoji stickers and then paste them into emails, social media posts, blogs – any text field that allows images.
Here’s how to download and use the Google Chrome Bitmoji extension.
3. Click “Add extension.” You’ll be brought to page where you need to log in with your Snapchat or Bitmoji account.
Once added, the Bitmoji icon will appear next to your other extensions in the top toolbar. If you don’t see it, try clicking the puzzle piece icon.
Your extensions can be found in the top toolbar.
William Antonelli/Insider; Snap Inc.
Now, to use the extension:
1. Click the Bitmoji icon in your top toolbar. It’ll load, and you’ll be shown a variety of different Bitmoji pictures.
2. When you find the Bitmoji picture you want to use, right-click it and then select Copy Image.
Find and right-click the Bitmoji icon you want.
William Antonelli/Insider; Snap Inc.
3. Find someplace you can paste images – in an email, or when writing a tweet – and paste the image in. You can do this by right-clicking and selecting Paste, or by pressing the keyboard command for paste – Ctrl + V on a PC, or Command + V on a Mac.
You can also usually drag and drop the Bitmoji picture into the text field, but this won’t work in all cases.
A photo-sharing app that bans selfies launched on Monday, generating buzz online and quickly topping the free-downloads chart on the US App Store.
Poparazzi operates as a social-media platform that mimics a paparazzi shoot. It only allows users to take photos of other people. It doesn’t allow filters, follower counts, captions, or photos taken by a phone’s front-facing camera.
In other words, Poparazzi is all about “hyping up your friends,” as the company advertises. SignalFire investor Josh Constantine dubbed the platform “the perfect app for Hot Vax Summer.” Other venture capitalists compared the app’s debut to the launch of popular apps like Clubhouse, Snapchat, and even Facebook.
Here’s how Poparazzi works
A user’s Poparazzi profile is divided between the photos they take of their friends and the ones that are taken of them. The profile also shows which users most frequently catch them on camera.
Poparazzi
On the app, users simply take a quick photo and then tag their friends. The photos are designed to be candid and the app doesn’t allow for cropping, adding captions, filters or edits.
Tagged photos do not appear on a user’s account unless the accounts are following each other, though the app automatically follows everyone in an individual’s phone book when it is downloaded.
Each profile also gets a “pop” score, which tracks how many photos you take.
Overall, unlike most social-media apps like Instagram and Snapchat that focus on adding more filters and elements, Poparazzi is all about restricting features and simplifying the platform.
The company wrote in a blog post that they were inspired to create the app as way to develop a more authentic social-media presence for users.
“We built Poparazzi to take away the pressure to be perfect,” the company wrote in a Medium post announcing its launch. “We did this by not allowing you to post photos of yourself, putting the emphasis where it should’ve been all along: on the people you’re with. On Poparazzi, you are your friend’s paparazzi, and they are yours.”
How to get started with the app
The platform is clearly targeted toward Gen Z. When you sign up the app flashes candid pictures of high schoolers and college students at parties. It’s akin to the early days of Snapchat.
The onboarding process is designed to introduce users to a “new age” of social media. It provides haptic feedback, as if you’re actually taking the pictures flitting across the screen.
Poparazzi
“Let’s get it poppin’,” highlights the screen, as users are directed to set up their accounts.
The sign-up process is very standard. All it requires is your name, age, and phone number. The app then asks for access to an individual’s camera, contacts, and notifications.
Poparazzi allows users to create their own profile pictures, but once you’re on the app your profile is defined by your friends and how they see you through the lens of a camera. There is massive incentive to invite new users to the app, as a user’s presence on the platform is entirely dependent on having friends on Poparazzi and there is not a lot to do on the app without friends.
On the app, users can take quick photos called “pops” or tap on the camera icon multiple times to create stop-motion-like GIFs.
Poparazzi
Poparazzi does not allow captions or comments, but you can provide reactions, as well as find and follow new accounts. Unlike Instagram, the app stays away from follow counts, but each user’s profile shows the number of views they’ve gotten on their Poparazzi pictures, as well as the number of reactions to their photos.
Poparazzi
People are given the option to delete and untag pictures they do not want on their profile. They can also block users who they don’t want “popping” pictures of them and prevent the accounts from tagging their name.
You can, however, take photos of people that are not yet on the app by labeling them with the individual’s name. The photos will create a profile that friends can later claim and will appear as a shell profile with the tag “this profile is not claimed yet.”
Poparazzi also allows users to upload photos from their phone, as well as share photos from the app to Snapchat or across other social-media platforms.
To date, Poparazzi is only available for Apple devices on the App Store, though the company plans to eventually release it for Android devices as well.
The app seems to have taken social-media by storm and many investors are saying it could represent a “new age” for social media.
Social media buzzed with news of the app after it was released
The app was created by founders Alex and Austen Ma. They have reportedly raised over $2 million in funding led by investing firm Floodgate, but their list of investors is relatively unknown.
After the app’s debut, many VCs took to Twitter to promote the app, generating speculations as to who else could be funding the new social media platform.
“Poparazzi from @chinesemamba & co. is lighting up the App Store,” Danny Trinh the head designer of Zenly tweeted, reminiscing about when he helped launch SnapChat. “I’m nostalgic because *checks date* 10 years ago, I worked on a small app just for photos of friends. Poparazzi is a lot more fun :).”
Weekend fund investor Ryan Hoover tweeted that his firm was a Poparazzi investor. Hoover also appears in a picture on the app’s onboarding video, where he is seen lounging by a pool.
The app’s debut was so popular that the platform crashed at one point.
“Things have been pretty hectic the last 24 hours,” the app’s developer, Alex Ma, told Insider’s Margaux MacColl over email. “Just trying to keep our servers from melting!”
Diller criticized Apple for using its “quasi-monopoly” to overcharge companies like his in “a disgusting manner” through its App Store commissions. The company requires developers to pay a 30% fee on purchases made in the marketplace, and many have long seen the practice as a way for Apple to obtain an unfair advantage in the market.
“The idea that they actually justify it by saying, ‘We spend all this money protecting our little App Store,'” Diller told CNBC. “I mean, it’s criminal. Well, it will be criminal.”
Spiegel later spoke with the outlet and said Snap is “happy” to pay the 30% commission fee on in-app purchases.
“We really feel like Snapchat wouldn’t exist without the iPhone and without the amazing platform that Apple has created,” Spiegel said. “In that sense, I’m not sure we have a choice about paying the 30% fee, and of course, we’re happy to do it in exchange for all of the amazing technology that they provide to us in terms of the software but also in terms of their hardware advancements.”
Snap and Expedia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Apple pulled the wildly popular “Fortnite” from its App Store in 2020 after Epic skirted the company’s rules and fees to add its own in-app payment system. Epic has argued that Apple’s App Store is a monopoly, while Apple says Epic simply broke the rules that govern its developers.
Many social-media apps have a “dark mode” these days, allowing users to change the color of their app’s interface to darker tones instead of bright ones, which can feel easier on the eyes and sometimes save battery life.
For a long time, Snapchat was one of the few major social media apps without a dark mode. But since last year, they’ve been rolling out dark mode to more and more iPhone users. Most iPhone users will be able to use Snapchat’s dark mode now – unfortunately, it’s still missing for Android users.
Here’s how to check if Snapchat’s dark mode is available on your iPhone, and how to enable it.
How to enable Snapchat dark mode on iPhone
1. Open the Snapchat app on your device and log in if you’re prompted to do so.
2. In the upper-left corner of your screen, tap on your profile picture.
Tap your profile avatar in the top-right corner.
Grace Eliza Goodwin/Insider
3. In the upper-right corner of your profile page, tap on the “Settings” icon that looks like a gear.
Tap the gear icon.
Grace Eliza Goodwin/Insider
4. In the “My Account” section of the Settings menu, scroll down until you see an option called “App Appearance.” If you can’t find “App Appearance” listed, it means you can’t use dark mode yet.
Tap “App Appearance.”
Grace Eliza Goodwin/Insider
5. In the “App Appearance” menu, tap “Always Dark” to enable Snapchat’s dark mode. You can also choose “Match System” to have the app sync with your iPhone’s settings, so if your iPhone changes between light and dark automatically throughout the day, Snapchat will too.
Select “Always Dark” or “Match System” to have the app mirror to your system settings.
Maybe we’re just in a calm-before-the-storm moment, but, less than a week before the Apple update is expected, the internet companies in its path are remarkably calm.
Snapchat on Thursday forecast strong revenue growth of up to 85% for its current quarter, despite “anticipated disruptions” of the iPhone update. Snapchat also noted that it now has more Android users than iPhone users– something that should mitigate the impact of Apple’s privacy change.
But one not-so-widely noted development from Facebook this week was the rollout of new ways for marketers to aim ads at its audience of 2 billion viewers based on the types of videos being watched – sports, pet and animals, business, etc. That sounds a lot like old-fashioned “contextual” advertising, which doesn’t require collecting user data. Maybe Facebook’s future is a reversion to the past?
There’s another big development looming for tech companies: the post-pandemic reopening. And it’s already causing some hiccups.
Netflix reported first-quarter subscriber numbers that fell short of expectations. Netflix blamed last year’s “big Covid-19 pull forward” – basically, a surge of signups from homebound consumers that’s made it tougher to find new subscribers today. Netflix also cited the lack of fresh content, as lockdowns have made it harder to produce new movies and shows.
Perhaps one of the most interesting wildcards to watch as the pandemic fades will be what happens to the food delivery business that’s been booming during the lockdowns. The return to restaurants and in-person dining will affect not just the DoorDash and Gubhubs of the world, but also the so-called ghost kitchens – shared, delivery-only kitchen facilities where restaurant workers prepare food for online orders.
CloudKitchens’ employee ranks are made up of numerous Kalanick loyalists from the Uber days, and many of the company’s corporate values are literally the same catchphrases that became infamous at Uber including “always be hustlin'” and “super pumped.” While Kalanick’s methods may be controversial, there’s no denying that he was instrumental in making Uber the global juggernaut that it is. For better or for worse, history may be repeating itself
Amazon has gone from selling books online to delivering groceries to your doorstep, producing movies and building flying drones. So why not open a hair salon?
There’s only one Amazon Salon and you’ll need to go to London’s Spitalfields neighborhood to try it.
Don’t expect Amazon employees to get hands-on with your hair – a team of professional stylists from the city’s Neville Hair & Beauty Salon will handle that part. Still, given Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ thing for robots, it doesn’t take a big leap of imagination to envision future haircuts that don’t involve human hands at all.
Snap shares were propelled higher Friday after the social media site turned in first-quarter financial results that surpassed Wall Street’s targets and set its sight on a jump in revenue.
The company late Thursday posted breakeven earnings per share on an adjusted basis compared with a loss of $0.06 per share in a consensus estimate from Refinitiv. A year ago, Snap lost $0.08 per share.
Revenue leapt by 66% to $769.6 million from $462.5 million a year earlier, beating analyst expectations of $743.8 million. The company said its active advertiser base about doubled from the year-ago period and that it delivered positive free cash flow for the first time as a public company.
Shares rose 6.6% to $60.80 early Friday. The stock has picked up about 14% this year and has more than tripled from $16 over the past 12 months.
Snap forecast second-quarter revenue of $820 million to $840 million, which would represent growth of 81% to 85% from $454 million in the year-ago period. Analysts, on average, currently anticipate $827 million.
In the first quarter, global daily active users rose by 51% to 280 million, higher than the Refinitiv estimate of 274.6 million users. Snap also said for the first time that the majority of its daily active users for the quarter were on the Android version of its app.
“We have a large opportunity to gain share of the global digital ad market, which is $340 billion and growing,” said Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s chief business officer, during the company’s earnings call. She said the company is focused on three priorities: investing in its ad platform, scaling its sales and marketing functions to support advertising partners worldwide, and building ad experiences through video and augmented reality.
Social platforms, especially over the past year, have been increasing focus on e-commerce, said Scott Kessler, global sector lead for technology, media and telecommunications at Third Bridge, in a note.
“The recent acquisition of Fit Analytics could help Snap in the fashion area, and ultimately challenge Pinterest, where the latter has had success with its “try on” feature in the beauty category,” he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to receive his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health on December 22, 2020 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images
Dr. Fauci is reportedly taking to Snapchat to encourage people to get a vaccine.
It’s part of a White House media campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy, Axios reported.
Fauci, 80, will use the app to reach younger people. All over-16s are now eligible for a shot.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, will reportedly take to Snapchat to encourage more young Americans to get vaccinated.
Fauci, 80, will make his Snapchat debut as part of a wider White House media campaign to launch on Monday, Axios reported Sunday. As of Monday, everyone aged over 16 in the US is eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Fauci and the White House want to reassure Americans who may be hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine, an unnamed official told Axios.
More than two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 29 use Snapchat, the social-media platform that lets you send short videos and photos to others, according to the Pew Research Center.
The campaign is launching as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigate reports of a rare but serious possible side effect of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. Six women aged between 18 and 48 had brain blood clots after getting the shot, the groups said April 13.
Nearly half of all adults have had one dose of COVID-19 shot, and about one-third are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Fauci has previously said that vaccinating 70% to 85% of America’s population would enable a return to normal life.
Snap reportedly researched ways to skirt Apple’s new privacy rules that will ban apps from tracking people without their permission, The Financial Times reported Friday.
The company explored methods of tracking people’s behavior through third parties and cross-referencing that information with its own user database to keep tabs on users, according to the report, which cited internal documents and unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The report comes as Apple is preparing to roll out new privacy policies that will ask people if they want to let their apps track them and block apps from doing so if they opt out.
The policies are expected to have a massive impact on the digital advertising market, which currently relies on tracking people’s behaviors across apps and websites to more precisely target ads. If most iPhone users opt out of the tracking, the policies could hurt major social media companies’ advertising revenue. Facebook has said Apple’s new policies could cut revenues for its Audience Network, which personalizes ads in third-party apps, by up to 50%.
Snap did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. In a statement to FT, Snap confirmed that it explored methods of tracking users’ behavior using third party services, but said that it would discontinue the system once Apple’s new privacy changes go into effect.
“We support and will follow Apple’s upcoming guidelines because we have always believed that advertising should respect consumers’ privacy,” Snap told the outlet.
Snap isn’t the only company to have explored skirting Apple’s new privacy rules. ByteDance, the Beijing-based company that owns TikTok, reportedly tested Chinese state-backed tools that would make it possible to keep tracking users in China even after Apple’s new standards go into effect.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If you decide you don’t want your Snapchat account anymore, it’s easy to delete it. However, you can only do so on the Snapchat website, which means you’ll need to know your login information.
Keep in mind that once you complete these steps, your Snapchat account won’t be deleted right away. It’ll be deactivated for 30 days, during which time you’ll have the option to reactivate your account before it’s permanently deleted.
Here’s how to delete Snapchat and deactivate your account.
If you decide to reactivate your Snapchat account before 30 days have passed, you can do so by simply logging back in with your username and password. It may take up to 24 hours for your account to reactivate.
Even though it is still in the early stages, much attention has been focused on how 5G services will effectively power innovation and increase performance, across a broad range of industries.
Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all offer 5G coverage across the US, and last October, Apple rolled out a lineup of iPhone 12 models, all of which will be compatible with 5G.
The technology follows 4G LTE, which is used for streaming and other data-heavy activities, as well as driving Verizon’s national network, for example. 5G networks are anticipated to be 10 times faster than 4G LTE, as Insider previously reported.
Widespread implementation of 5G is not expected until about 2025 in many developed economies, however, according to a PWC report.
Insider spoke to experts in the healthcare, transportation, augmented reality, and retail industries to see how they will be able to leverage this technology.
1. Healthcare
Electronic interaction between doctors and patients has been relied upon as people follow stay-at-home orders.
Amwell
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of telehealth services in an age where social-distancing measures dominate our lives. Electronic interaction between doctors and patients has been relied upon as people follow stay-at-home orders.
With the implementation of 5G, e-health experts and entrepreneurs are increasingly seeing how the new technology has the potential to advance healthcare to the next level. For example, by accelerating the use of augmented-reality applications and robotics to assist surgeons in complex surgical procedures.
Oliver Kharraz is the chief executive and founder of ZocDoc, a New York-based service that helps people book medical appointments. Kharraz said in an interview with Insider: “Investments in infrastructure, including 5G, will ensure that everyone has seamless access to telehealth and faster access to healthcare overall.”
For Kharraz, making a doctor’s appointment shouldn’t require perseverance. It should be a speedy, convenient process, he said, which is a distinct advantage of 5G, due to its super-short latency.
When asked what problems 5G can solve in telehealth, Kharraz said there are three important ways the technology can resolve issues in telehealth: “Bringing consistency to the experience, offering efficiencies, and enabling more and better relationships.”
He said: “Right now, a patient located in an area with spotty connectivity may have to explain a symptom to their provider two or three times and wait through a screen freeze for answers to their questions; that’s not a great experience. In urban areas, many of us take that connectivity for granted but it’s not the reality everywhere.
The proliferation of 5G will introduce additional efficiencies that will allow providers to minimize their efforts on administrative processes, Kharraz added. “For instance, in areas with good online access, appointments can be made online versus on the phone and documents can easily be shared on a patient portal versus a fax machine.”
2. Transportation
5G has the potential to drastically improve road safety.
AP
5G is poised to revolutionize the transportation industry in two categories – protection and personalization – according to Verizon’s new business incubation VP, Elise Neel.
By protection, Neel refers to the ways in which 5G can drastically improve road safety. Verizon’s partnerships with companies like HERE, a location data and technology platform, demonstrate the possibilities of combining the power of 5G Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) with location intelligence.
Neel said: “One application that was developed leverages HERE’s HD Live Map and HERE’s proprietary Live Sense computer vision technology to create a Vehicle to Network (V2N) communication system that identifies vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, and barriers from a vehicle-mounted smartphone.”
The data is then sent in real-time to Verizon’s 5G MEC network, where AI predicts likely travel paths and warns vehicles of impending potential collisions, Neel said.
5G will also enable innovations that help cut congestion by monitoring and controlling traffic lights; alerting drivers of delays; and providing smart parking solutions, according to Neel. She said this will allow cities to personally accommodate individual needs.
Neel believes 5G is paving the way for an array of innovations that will reshape cities, businesses, and society as a whole. “These advances are merging the physical, digital, and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential disruption,” she said.
3. Manufacturing
5G should also enable new innovations in manufacturing, including autonomous robots.
AP
Advanced technology through 5G will also enable new innovations in manufacturing.
As information technology and operational technology budgets continue to converge, 5G will assist in the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as factories and systems become more automated and autonomous.
Neel cites the example case of autonomous mobile robots and MEC, which will create new opportunities to upskill workers and facilitate a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines.
Transparent and real-time data sharing can also improve response times, and enable predictive maintenance and inventory analyses, all powered by 5G.
4. Augmented reality and artificial intelligence
The future of augmented reality and artificial may be impacted by the reliability of 5g networks.
AP
The future of AR and AI depends on the reliability of 5G networks.
Carolina Arguelles Navas, head of AR product strategy at Snapchat, told Insider about the importance of 5G technology for Snapchat since it enables them to create augmented-reality experiences that far surpass anything they were able to do before.
She said: “For example, our famous AR Lenses are usually around 4mb in file size. With 5G, we’re able to deliver Lenses that are around 50mb in file size! It makes a huge difference in the quality, detail, and amount of content that we can pack into each individual Lens, and allows us to deliver these tech-intensive experiences seamlessly to Snapchatters.”
Last year, Snapchat put 5G to the test with the world’s first 5G Landmarker Lens experience, built in partnership with Verizon. Together with Verizon and the band Black Pumas, they transformed the New York public library into an AR concert venue.
“Snapchatters on Verizon’s 5G network could unlock an AR experience at the Library, where Black Pumas’ lead singer Eric Burton put on a psychedelic performance of their hit song ‘Colors’ as a Bitmoji-style avatar.
Arguelles Navas said the company was excited to “continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as 5G networks become more widely available.”
5. Retail
Many retailers will be hoping to use 5G to enhance customers’ in-store experience.
AP
When 5G is distributed to enough people, retail operations stand to benefit from incorporating the technology into their business. The technology will be useful for experiences like VR and AR, which retailers can use to enhance their in-store experience, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, an analytics and consulting company.
“From an operational point of view, 5G can be used internally to allow workers to connect to store and company networks remotely via portable devices,” he said.
The potential to further elevate digital communication comes at a time when engaging with consumers through technology has become essential as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Saunders added: “5G will allow retailers to deliver more information to consumers, which will improve customer service. There are many back-end connectivity issues, such as connecting remote sites and warehouses to the retail ecosystem that it could help with.”
