Add Mr. Boh, Poe and Domino to the emojis that are available to Baltimore-up a text.
A collection of Baltimore emojis are now live for download on Apple’s App Store. The 60 sticker emojis run the Charm City gamut, from a crab mallet to a hon with a beehive to the beloved Balt Rat.
After being sent back to add a backspace button, the free app was approved by Apple this week.
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Coming on the heels of (and inspired by) the Ravens’ emoji keyboard, the all-encompassing emojis were the brainchild of Ross Nochumowitz. His family runs Big Boyz Bail Bonds in Highlandtown, which makes those famous pink-and-yellow pens.
Nochumowitz previousy branched out into the app world with BetaPunch, an app designed to connect developers with beta testers.
Last year, he founded Baltimore in a Box, which provides care packages to far-flung members of the Bawlmer diaspora who are pining for a taste of the Greatest City in America. The emojis essentially allow you stick the Baltimore-themed stuff into a text, although you can’t stick them right in the middle of a line, or into programs like Facebook Messenger.
Nochumowitz essentially sees the emojis as a marketing play for Baltimore in a Box, which also just opened a storefront near The Laughing Pint on Conkling Street.
Nochumowitz found a 16-year-old developer on Reddit’s r/forhire, with whom he has been exchanging designs via YouTube and money via PayPal.
While Baltimore brands are well accounted for in the app, Nochumowitz said he didn’t reach out to every business trying to get approval. He said some businesses have been positive, and he’ll deal with any legal trouble that may arise down the road.
“I just wanted to launch something that I thought people would really like,” he said.
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