Millions of people around the world have been fascinated with avatars and stickers using them to communicate in texts in the office, in the dating world, and more. After Snapchat acquired Bitstrips for $100 million in March this year, Snapchat users rushed to download the Bitmoji app to create their avatars and hook it up to their Snapchat account.

A sticker/emoji app, ArabMoji, was recently launched by Sharif Aboulnaga and Omar Diab, for the Middle East, which we have downloaded and have been trying out.  The app is a result of a collaboration of up-and-coming artists in countries like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE who have created emojis that reflect the Arab culture and local mannerisms.

The app consists of hundreds of intricately designed stickers that vary from cultural and traditional innuendos to very Arabic sayings. This makes it easier and more fun for anyone to express themselves in a manner unique to their culture. As Omar said, “There are certain situations and emotions that can only be expressed in Arabic. Why go elsewhere and try to adapt something foreign to our unique culture? It simply won’t fit.”

Just like Bitmoji, smartphone users simply have to download ArabMoji and add it as a keyboard. When messaging, they just have to change their keyboard, select an emoji, and paste it in the text box. The emojis have changed our chats to a hilarious level and we find it unfortunate that we can’t use them on Snapchat.

Sharif added that “With the popularity of emoji apps, we’re looking to stimulate the artistic community by encouraging them to provide creative and engaging content that benefits the users and themselves,” making the app a great platform for artists from across the region can submit their artwork to engage with users.

The app is available to download for free on both iTunes and Google Play Appstores.