Genmojis will be similar to regular emojis, except they’re personalized, according to an iOS 18 WWDC session focused on Genmojis. Emojis are not images, but rather pictograms coded to the Unicode standard and rendered by each platform.
To use Genmojis, you will simply type a prompt and the AI will create it specifically for you. For example, the image above was created with the text “a Labrador with sunglasses.” Genmojis are hosted on the same virtual keyboard as emojis.
But emojis are determined by the Unicode Consortium, which has raised some questions about how Apple’s Genmoji solution works.
It turns out that Apple has designed – brace yourself – an NSAdaptiveImageGlyph (Application Programming Interface) API for Genmojis, as well as other images like stickers and memojis. This API makes them behave like emojis. This approach means that Genmojis and other content using NSAdaptiveImageGlyph can be used and formatted with plain text, similar to emojis.
A Genmoji can be used alone, copied, pasted or sent as a sticker. It can be used with text and will respect the height and formatting of the text. According to Apple, Genmojis can be used anywhere Rich Text Format (RTF) is supported.
Genmojis aren’t yet in developers’ work for iOS 18, but Apple plans to let developers start testing Apple Intelligence this summer. Genmojis and Apple Intelligence will be available to the public this fall, but will be limited to iPhone 15 Pro models and iPads and Macs equipped with M chips.
Want to know more about iOS 18? Check out our iOS 18 guide. Additionally, we’re concerned about how Apple Intelligence might affect email communications, but there are other features, like vehicle motion signals, that we can’t wait to try .
This article was originally published in our sister publication Macworld Sweden and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
