How to use Apple’s Genmoji to create new types of emoji

For decades, choosing an emoji was limited to what was available on your smartphone’s keyboard. Every year brings new emojis—I like “Face with bags under eyes,” though it’s still running. But there are times when the pre-installed options are not 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 text prompts from your photo library or even a picture of a person. Below, I break down all the steps to making your own Genmoji.

Check us out iOS 18 roundup For a complete list of all the top features of Apple’s latest operating system. Be sure to check out our other Apple guides, too, including The best iPhone, The best iPhone 16 accessoriesAnd Best iPads.

Enable Apple Intelligence

Before we begin, you’ll want to check that you have access to Apple Intelligence. It launched with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, but Genmoji launched specifically in iOS 18.2. To check your software version, go to Settings > General > About. iOS 18.2 or newer is good to go. If you want to update, First back up your device.

If you don’t have access to Genmoji yet, make sure Apple Intelligence is enabled (it should be by default). go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and toggle on Apple Intelligence. It is worth noting that Apple Intelligence only Available on select iPhones-give iPhone 16 range, iPhone 15 ProAnd iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Screenshot courtesy of Brenda Stolier via Apple Intelligence

Enter your prompt

1. When you have a message window open, tap the emoji icon (smiley face) or the keyboard icon (globe) to access the emoji keyboard.
2. In the upper-right corner of the keyboard, tap Genmoji icon (pink and blue smiley faces with a plus sign).
3. Type a few words or a phrase that describes what you’re looking for in the textbox and tap completed.
4. Swipe and tap through the crowd of Genmojis add On the one you want to use. It will then appear in your emoji drawer and sticker.
5. You can also create Genmoji based on photos of people in your Photos app. Start by typing in a prompt such as “Julian celebrating his birthday,” tap “Choose a Person” From the list of displayed contacts and select the specific person From there, you’ll see different Genmojis populate based on the prompt. tap add When you find one you want to use.

Fine-tune your Genmoji

You can also modify your original prompt to create a new version of your original Genmoji.

1. In the Genmoji window, tap the text box.
2. Type a modified version or a completely new version of your prompt For example, instead of “dog in birthday hat” you can change it to “dog with birthday cake”. It will then automatically retrieve new versions.