Skip to main content

New Gboard suggestions bar translates emoji into GIFs and stickers

Back in July, our APK Insight of Gboard revealed work on a new suggestions feature that essentially translates emoji into GIFs and stickers. “Emoji browsing suggestions” are now beginning to roll out for some Android users.

In the emoji keyboard, there’s a new “Suggestions” bar that prompts you to “Tap an emoji to get suggestions.” Selecting a character will load related GIFs and stickers for you to insert into any conversation.

Suggest GIF/Sticker content when you select emojis in the emoji keyboard.

Displayed against a white background, you can swipe through the Gboard translate results, with the media for your last entered emoji remaining even if you delete what was entered.

If none are available, a “No suggestions here… try a different emoji” message will appear accompanied by a fun ghost animation. There is a settings gear in the top-right that opens Gboard’s main Preferences page. Under layout, “Emoji browsing suggestions” can be toggled on/off. For some, the extra vertical height introduced by this feature is distracting.

So far, this feature is appearing on the latest Gboard 8.8 beta. The Gboard emoji translator is not widely rolled out, and some that have the bar enabled cannot get it to work properly. It comes as Google plans to deprecate the ability to search for emoji by doodling.

Thanks RKBDI and Jondan!

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

Comments

Author

Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com