Apple iOS 12 update: Memoji is here to help you make an animated avatar of yourself

tech2 News StaffSep 18, 2018 19:52:48 IST

The Apple iOS 12 update has been rolled out globally and the 1.65 GB update for the iPhone X comes with a lot of newly added features. To get a complete lowdown on the features on the iOS 12, please read this.

One of the additions on the iPhone X over the older Apple iPhones is a feature called Memoji. This is the expected evolution of the Animoji feature, which was introduced along with the launch of the iPhone X. It would let you respond to iMessages using animated animals. The Face ID camera module of the iPhone X let the phone map your facial features to that of a cute animal such as a dog, teddy bear, a monkey and so on. The Animoji also lets you record videos using the front camera with the animated character of your choosing.

With the iOS 12 update, Apple announced that it would be adding more characters such as a skull, a dragon, a tiger, a koala bear, a dinosaur and so on. But the most awaited feature easily has to be the Memoji, where you can make your own animated avatar. The sad bit of the Memoji, as with Animojis, is that you can only use it in the Messages app and can only share a video recording of the Memoji on third-party apps.

Here's how you go about creating and using your own Memoji.

You will first need to get into the Messages app and tap on the Animoji icon. You then scroll all the way to the left till you see a '+' sign, which will let you add your own Memoji. From here on, you have a hundred different ways to customise the Memoji, the way you like it. After selecting the skin tone, and going to Hairstyle, it may appear that the Memoji only has female avatars, but you will have to scroll all the way down to get to the male avatars.

Memojis in iOS 12. Image: Apple

So you can choose from the skin tone to hairstyle to eye shape, nose shape, facial hair to even headgear. You can customise this to look like yourself or you can just make a random character which you want to use as a Memoji. You can go really really granular on this process of making your Memoji, you can even customise eyelashes if you're that particular about how your Memoji should look.

And yes, you can create more than one Memoji.

But the question remains, will Memojis like Animojis really be just a novelty item or will they see widespread use? Currently, Animojis and Memojis can only be created on an iPhone X. This will soon be joined by the new iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR in the coming months allowing more users to use the feature. Animojis, especially in India where not many people use the Messages app as a primary means of communication, haven't really seen the kind of adoption that one would expect. Sending an Animoji as a video file on other chat apps is just too much effort. We shall see if Memoji changes that staus quo.