At Tuesday's Apple keynote address, emoji nerds around the world got confirmation of a rumored new feature that may change the face of the ironic texts you send your friends at 2 a.m. forever. With the upcoming, highly anticipated iPhone X, users will be able to use "animoji," an evolved version of emoji unlike anything the every day texter has had at their disposal. The animoji won't just express your emotions, but will literally capture them from the movements on your own face — leading a lot of excited users to wonder, how do animoji work?
When the iPhone X comes out on Nov. 3, we'll be seeing a lot of new features; the animoji, though, will arguably be the most fun one at our disposal. The animoji uses the camera on your phone to watch your facial movements — be it a frown, a smile, an entire series of facial movements, or even recorded messages — and then projects and records it onto an emoji avatar, or the animoji, which animates the expressions you made on your phone and speaks using your voice. Essentially, you can manipulate a whole slew of different emoji to do whatever your face is doing (and yes, before you ask, the poop emoji is among them).
Here's the video from the Apple keynote address, using the animoji on the upcoming iPhone X as a demonstration.
So how, exactly, can you make the animoji work for you?
The first order of business is patience; the phone won't be available until Nov. 3.
First, Open Messages On Your Phone
The animoji keyboard should be accessible as an app in Messages; if you look at the photo from the keynote footage, you can see it nestled between your usual apps as a monkey emoji icon. When you tap that button, you should be able to see a display full of options for different animoji to select, like a chicken, a robot, or an alien. (Things are about to get so gloriously weird, y'all.)
Select Your Animoji
Dibs on the unicorn, y'all.
Hit Record
Once you hit record, you have several options: you can send a moving emoji without sound that represents whatever ~vibe~ you're feeling, or you can send a full recorded message, with the animoji tracking your movements and recording your sound. The camera in the phone tracks your face from the moment you open the animoji app, and as you can see from the keynote demonstration, it's almost eerily on point.
Send Your Message To Your Friend/Frenemy/Parent Who Is About To Be Very Confused But Pleased
It sends just like a normal iMessage, and can either accompany text that you put into the iMessage field, or standalone. It's essentially like Snapchat mask meets emoji; now you can express your innermost feelings without actually having to put on pants or reveal that your room behind you is an insane, prolific mess.
Also anticipated in the new set of iPhones are tighter security measures and performance improvements, which will come with less fanfare than the animojis, but are nonetheless important. Apple also announced new details about the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, the latter of which features an all-glass front and will be, according to Apple’s chief design officer Jon Ives, "the beginning of the next ten years for iPhone." Regardless of whether or not you end up springing for a new iPhone this season, we're all in for a treat with the upcoming animoji, which are bringing you one step closer to living out the rest of your days as an animated dog the way nature must have intended.
