How to Create Your Own Weird Emoji on IPhone
Of all the new and strange artificial intelligence features in Apple Intelligence, Genmoji is perhaps the most interesting. Even though it’s in beta and the results can range from weird to horrifying , it’s still fun to create your own emoji.
Genmoji, as the name sounds, is a combination of generative artificial intelligence and emoji. Simply put, you give it a hint and it generates an emoticon, a small sticker-sized image that can be saved for reuse in chats. While you’re always limited by Apple’s limitations, you can use this feature to create emojis that you wish exist but don’t. Of course, generative AI is far from perfect, and you may find yourself generating Genmoji that you wish were never created.
As with Image Playground, getting something good out of Genmoji can be difficult. But I’ll tell you how this feature works and how you can create something that works and is fun at the same time. If you want to annoy your spouse with rainbow poop emojis in the middle of the workday, here’s how to do it.
How to Create Genmoji on Your iPhone
To access Genmoji, you’ll need to be running iOS 18.2 on an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 series. You will then need to register and clear the Image Playground waitlist. To do this, open the Image Playground app and click Request Early Access . When it is ready, you will receive a notification and the Genmoji will be unlocked.
Once you do this, you can create Genmoji anywhere on your iPhone, right from your keyboard. Tap the Emoji button to switch to the emoji keyboard, then tap the colorful new rainbow emoji button in the top right corner. (Typically, to discover an Apple Intelligence feature, you need to look for a new, shiny thing that appears out of nowhere.)
You will now see a new Genmoji creation screen. Here, give me a hint, as detailed as possible. You can do something really weird by using your name or the name of someone in your contact book and create an emoji based on an AI-generated version of their face. The results can be unpleasant or hilarious. Here I am in a cowboy hat for reference.
Genmoji will generate several emojis and you can view all the versions it has created. When you find one you like, click the Add button at the top. The Genmoji will be sent to the current conversation and it will be added to the sticker area of the Emoji keyboard and can be used over and over again.
If you like a Genmoji someone has submitted, you can click on it to view details and add it to your collection.
Tips for creating funny genmoji
Creating a good Genmoji means walking a fine line between absurd AI images and something that looks like a regular emoji, while still staying within Apple’s boundaries. There are some things you just can’t do, like create a Genmoji from someone that isn’t already filled with your iPhone’s photo data.
However, I managed to create an angry flipping bird emoji, which is great. And yes, for scientific reasons, I can confirm that you can indeed create an eggplant on a peach emoji. But no guns allowed: just like regular emojis, you’re stuck with water guns, if at all.
The key to a good Genmoji is being descriptive. Use specific words that describe feelings or emotions (like “happy” or “tears”) and use descriptive verbs, then mix and match those things to see what Genmoji ends up creating. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries or different wording to get what you want. When I first started, I couldn’t get it to generate a poop emoji, but with different wording I was able to get what I wanted, a rainbow glitter poop emoji!
How to remove Genmoji
Genmoji, once created, always appear in suggestions when you open the emoji keyboard. This can be awkward if you’ve created one of the genmoji I mentioned above. And if you try to remove them from the emoji keyboard, you will find that it is simply impossible. To do this, you need to go to the Messages application.
In the Messages app, open any iMessage conversation, then tap the big Plus button above the keyboard. Now select the Stickers app. Here you will see all your Genmoji stickers. Simply long press on the sticker and select the Remove option to get rid of it. This will not only remove your Genmoji from stickers, but will also ensure that Genmoji disappears from your emoji keyboard.