For decades, choosing an emoji has been limited to what’s available on your smartphone’s keyboard. Every year brings a new emoji—I love “A face with bags under the eyes“That’s still being rolled out though. But there are times when the pre-installed options aren’t specific enough. Thankfully, Apple has a solution, and it’s called Genmoji.
with the help of Apple IntelligenceYou can create custom emojis from your keyboard using a text prompt or a photo of a person from your photos library. Below, I break down all the steps to create your own Genmoji.
Check us out iOS 18 roundup For a complete list of all the major features of Apple’s latest operating system. Be sure to check out our other Apple guides, too, including The best iPhone, Best iPhone 16 AccessoriesAnd Best iPads.
Enable Apple Intelligence
Before we begin, you’ll want to check if you have access to Apple Intelligence. It was launched with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, but Genmoji was launched specifically in iOS 18.2. To check your software version, go to Settings > General > About. If it says iOS 18.2 or newer you’re good to go. If you need to update, Backup your device first.
If you still don’t have access to Genmoji, make sure Apple Intelligence is enabled (it should be by default). go to Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri And turn on the toggle Apple Intelligence. It is worth noting that Apple Intelligence is only Available on select iPhones– of iPhone 16 range, iPhone 15 ProAnd iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Screenshot of Brenda Stolier via Apple Intelligence
Enter your prompt
- When you have a message window open, tap the emoji icon (smiley face) or the keyboard icon (globe) to access the emoji keyboard.
- In the upper right corner of the keyboard, tap Genmoji symbol (a pink and blue smiley face with a plus sign).
- Type a few words or a phrase that describes what you are looking for in the textbox and tap done.
- Swipe and tap through the populated Genmojis add which you want to use. It will then appear in your emoji drawer and sticker.
- You can also create Genmojis based on people’s photos in your Photos app. Start by typing in a prompt like “Julian is celebrating his birthday”, tap “Choose a Person” From the list of contacts that appears, and select the specific person. From there, you’ll see different Genmojis fill in based on the prompt. Tap add When you’ve found the one you want to use.
Fine-tune your Genmoji
You can also change your original prompt to create new versions of your original Genmoji.
- In the Genmoji window, tap the text box.
- Type a refined version or a completely new version of your prompt. For example, instead of “Dog in a birthday hat,” you can change it to “Dog with a birthday cake.” It will then automatically regenerate the new versions.
