If you’ve ever felt constrained by the limited selection of emojis on your smartphone’s keyboard, Apple has introduced a feature called Genmoji that could be a game changer. Integrated with Apple Intelligence, Genmoji allows users to create custom emojis using text prompts or even images from their photo library.
To utilize Genmoji, you need to ensure you have Apple Intelligence enabled on your device, which is available on iPhones from the iPhone 16 range and later with iOS 18.2 or newer. If you’re unsure about your device’s software version, check in Settings > General > About. Once you’ve confirmed your version, ensure that Apple Intelligence is turned on under Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri.
Creating a custom emoji is straightforward:
- Open a Messages window and tap the emoji or keyboard icon to access the emoji keyboard.
- Click on the Genmoji icon (the pink and blue smiley face with a plus sign) in the upper right corner.
- Enter a text prompt describing the emoji you want and hit Done.
- Scroll through the generated Genmojis, and tap Add on your selection to save it to your emoji drawer.
You can enhance your emoji creativity by entering prompts based on people’s images. For instance, typing "Julian celebrating his birthday" allows you to choose a contact and generate related Genmojis.
Genmoji offers flexibility too; you can refine your requests to create new versions of existing Genmojis. Simply edit the text box with a new prompt, and the system will provide a fresh selection based on your input.
Deleting a Genmoji is equally simple:
- Open the emoji drawer and locate the Genmoji you want to remove.
- Long-press it and select Delete.
- Alternatively, you can rearrange your emojis by selecting Rearrange.
Keep in mind that Genmoji is currently in beta, which means it might not always function flawlessly.
For further details on Apple’s features, consider checking the full list of updates in the iOS 18 roundup.
