iOS 18.2: How to Use Genmoji and Apple Intelligence to Create Custom Emoji

Apple released iOS 18.2 on Dec. 11, more than a month after the tech giant released iOS 18.1. The latest update brings a lot of new features and bug fixes to your iPhone. It also introduces more Apple Intelligence features to people with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max or a device from the iPhone 16 lineup, including the custom emoji creator Genmoji.

The Unicode Standard — a universal character encoding standard — is responsible for creating new emoji, and once a year the approved emoji are added to all devices. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone. You can create them as you need them.

Here’s how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Note that before you use Apple Intelligence, you have to request it for your iPhone. To do so, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap Get Apple Intelligence.

How to make custom emoji

A custom emoji of a black bird perched on a blue book — Apple/Screenshot by CNET

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap into your emoji keyboard — the smiley in the bottom left corner of your keyboard.
3. In the search bar, type the emoji you want to create, like “raven on a book.”
4. Tap Create New Emoji.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, a tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more on iOS, here’s what to know about iOS 18.2 and iOS 18.1. You can also check out our iOS 18 cheat sheet.