You’ve been there. You’re typing a text, and you desperately need a very specific image—maybe a squirrel wearing a tuxedo or a slice of pizza playing the saxophone. You scroll through the standard library, but it’s just not there. Apple decided to fix this with iOS 18, or more specifically, the iOS 18.2 update. They call it Genmoji. It’s part of the broader "Apple Intelligence" suite, and honestly, it’s one of the few AI features that people are actually using every single day.
But there is a catch. Or a few catches.
First off, ios 18 ai emojis aren't technically emojis in the way we've understood them for twenty years. They don't belong to the Unicode Standard. If you send one to your friend who is still rocking an iPhone 11 or, heaven forbid, an Android phone, things might get a little weird.
How Genmoji Actually Works (and How to Find It)
If you're looking for a dedicated "Genmoji app," stop. It doesn't exist. Apple tucked the creator right into the keyboard you already use.
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To get started, you just open a conversation in Messages and tap that familiar smiley face icon. If you have a compatible device—meaning an iPhone 15 Pro or any iPhone 16 model—you'll see a new, glowing "plus" icon or a "Describe an Emoji" bar.
This is where the magic happens. You type in something like "T-Rex wearing a tutu," and the screen starts to shimmer. After a few seconds, a little bubble pops up with a generated image. You can swipe left to see different variations because, let’s be real, the first AI attempt isn’t always the winner. Sometimes the eyes are a little wonky, or the tutu is the wrong shade of pink.
Once you hit "Add," it drops into your text field.
It feels like an emoji. It sits in line with your text. It’s small. But under the hood, it's a "rasterized bitmap." Apple created a special piece of tech called the NSAdaptiveImageGlyph API to make these images behave like text. It’s a clever trick that lets the image scale perfectly with your font size, so it doesn't look like a giant clunky attachment.
The Hardware Wall: Why Your Old iPhone Can't Do This
It’s kinda frustrating, right? You have a perfectly good iPhone 14, but you're locked out of the AI emoji party.
The reason is processing power. Apple Intelligence runs locally on the device for privacy. Creating an image from scratch every time you want to send a silly face requires a massive amount of "Neural Engine" power.
Here is the quick list of devices that can actually create these:
- iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
- The entire iPhone 16 lineup
- iPads with M1 chips or later (or the A17 Pro)
- Macs with M-series chips (though creation started on mobile first)
If you have an older phone, you can still receive them. They’ll show up as small images or stickers. But you won’t be able to generate your own "cat riding a surfboard" until you upgrade.
You Can Turn Your Friends Into Emojis
This is probably the coolest (and potentially creepiest) part of the ios 18 ai emojis feature. Since your iPhone already recognizes faces in your Photos app, you can use those names in your prompts.
You can type "Sarah as a 1920s flapper" or "Mom as a superhero."
The AI looks at your "People" album, finds Sarah, and tries to map her likeness onto an emoji-style character. It’s not a deepfake—it still looks like a cartoon—but the resemblance is usually enough to make the group chat go wild.
What You Can’t Make (The Guardrails)
Apple is notoriously protective of its brand image, so there are strict rules. You can’t make anything violent. You can’t make anything "adult."
And interestingly, you can't use copyrighted characters.
Don't bother trying to make "Mickey Mouse eating a taco" or "Darth Vader at the beach." The system will just give you a "No Results" message or a very generic, legally-safe alternative. They also block celebrity names. If you try to make an emoji of a famous politician or a pop star, the AI will politely decline. It’s a bit of a buzzkill, but it keeps Apple out of legal trouble.
The Compatibility Problem
We need to talk about what happens when you send these outside the Apple ecosystem.
Because Genmoji aren't part of the official Unicode set (the universal language of emojis managed by a committee), they don't have a "code." When you send a standard "Face with Tears of Joy," your phone sends a code like U+1F602. Every phone in the world knows that code means that specific face.
A Genmoji has no code. It’s just a file.
On newer iPhones, it looks seamless. On older iPhones or Androids, the system tries its best. Usually, it will come through as a sticker or a small image attachment. If you're using an app that doesn't support "Rich Text," it might even just show up as a text description like [Genmoji of a dog in space].
It’s not perfect. Honestly, it’s a bit of a fragmented experience right now, but as more people move to iOS 18 and beyond, the "standard" will likely settle.
Pro Tips for Better Genmojis
If you want your ios 18 ai emojis to actually look good, follow these simple rules:
- Keep it simple. The AI gets confused with too many adjectives. "Blue dragon" works better than "Cerulean dragon with golden scales and a tiny hat holding a sword."
- Use the "Create New Emoji" shortcut. If you search for an emoji that doesn't exist in the search bar, Apple will automatically suggest creating one. It's faster than the plus-menu.
- Rephrase if it fails. If the AI gives you something ugly, change the word order. "Space cat" might look different than "Cat in space."
- Save your favorites. Once you create a winner, it gets saved to your stickers and "Recents" section. You don't have to generate it every time.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The world of ios 18 ai emojis is just the beginning of how we’re going to communicate. We’re moving away from a fixed library of symbols toward a world where language and imagery are totally fluid.
If you have the right hardware, start experimenting with the People feature—it’s the most unique part of the update. For everyone else, keep an eye on your incoming texts. You're about to see a lot more "unauthorized" squirrels and pizza slices in your chat bubbles.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your version: Go to Settings > General > Software Update to ensure you are on iOS 18.2 or later.
- Enable Apple Intelligence: Ensure "Apple Intelligence & Siri" is turned on in your settings menu; otherwise, the Genmoji icon won't appear.
- Tag your People: Open the Photos app and make sure your most-messaged friends are named in the "People & Pets" album so you can use them in your Genmoji prompts.
- Test the "Search" method: Open a text, type a ridiculous concept into the emoji search bar (like "Octopus playing drums"), and tap "Create New Emoji" to see the AI in action.