Dublin start-up "Emojitones" has secured €500,000 funding to develop its messaging application. Irish snooker legend, Ken Doherty, has also invested in the app. 

Emojitones is the world's first application to combine sounds and standard text messaging. Every emoji-icon now has an appropriate sound. The sounds are played automatically when messages are opened. 

The app is free on both iOS and Android. 

Emojitones creator and Founder, Dublin-based entrepreneur Guy de Bromhead, recently soft launched the app at Apple Founder Steve Wozniak’s debut ComicCon Silicon Valley event. The event was an eye opener and served as a great way to gauge reactions to the product before marketing efforts kick off worldwide later this month. 

de Bromhead said:  “For 25 years the world has text messaged in silence!! We need a change. Emojis are big business, six billion emojis are sent daily via all text messaging platforms. It’s logical to introduce sounds in to standard text messaging via emoji icons. Future releases will enable enhanced customization features, including the ability to create your own emoji tones or select from an expanding library of sounds curated to appeal to different languages and cultures.” 

Emojitones is available on Apple and Google Play stores now.