Android Users Get a Fart Button
Coming soon to an Android phone call near you: fart button.
As first reported by 9to5Google , Android users on the beta update channel are noticing a new menu when making calls using the Google Phone app. Dubbed “Audio Emoji,” this surprising new feature gives callers a soundboard with six different sound effects that both sides of the conversation can hear.
These include clapping, laughing, celebrating, a sad trombone, “ba dum shh” and for some reason, farting. In fact, the only thing “emoji” about them is that the buttons to play sounds are emojis.
Audio emoticons also include short graphics to accompany the sound effects, including a particularly disgusting animation of a “chocolate ice cream cone” squishing onto the ground surrounded by flies. You can guess which emoji this effect goes with. At the very least, these animations appear to be reserved for the sender, although they can play for the recipient if they also have audio emoji enabled.
These questions will need to be answered over time, as this feature has been slow to roll out—I didn’t have access to it on my Pixel 8 Pro , and Google hasn’t even officially announced it yet.
If you’re saddled with the Audio Emoji menu and don’t want to see a little cartoon poop during phone calls, you can disable the menu by tapping the “X” in the top right corner. However, it’s unclear whether this prevents friends from sending you sound effects.
Either way, there’s a pause between emojis, so at least you won’t have to worry about the person you’re talking to spamming you with the “fart into a sad trombone and ba doom shh” combo.
Google’s biggest hardware and software show of 2024, Google I/O , is just two weeks away. We hope the tech giant will be able to show off something more impressive on May 14th.