Most of the new Messages features announced last week have yet to widely launch, but Google is now rolling out Photomoji that can be used as reactions and stickers.
Update 1/26/24: Following the January Feature Drop, Pixel owners that are not on the Google Messages beta are seeing Photomoji. You can look for the new Photomoji tab in the emoji/expressive picker. Meanwhile, Magic Compose on the Pixel 8 Pro now works on-device thanks to Gemini Nano.
Google also announced that Photomoji and Magic Compose are exiting beta for Samsung devices earlier this month.
Original 12/4/23: Google Messages will subtly indicate that Photomoji is live on your device with a circular badge over the emoji button in the compose field. You can add new ones by long-pressing on an SMS text or RCS chat and scrolling to the end of the reactions bar for “Create.” That button is also available in the emoji picker to make ones without having to first send them.
This will open the usual Messages media picker for you to select an image. There is a “Searching for things to make photomoji…” scan that takes a second. Google then highlights what can be turned into a reaction.
Top comment by Mikel Pérez
making stickers this way instead of photomojis would be nicer and could be a feature of gboard. or both, both would be fine
This is an entirely automated process that end users can’t control. Manual refinements — like being able to use your finger to circle objects, like Magic Eraser — would have been nice, but Google’s detection mechanism works pretty well.
When you tap Send, the Photomoji will be delivered as a reaction. These creations are the same size as all other emoji, but tapping will slide up the pane with a much bigger preview.
Meanwhile, your Photomoji and others sent to you will appear in a new “Custom” tab next to Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers, as well as the reactions strip. You can quickly sort by “All,” “Yours,” and “Others.” As such, you can also send Photomoji as stickers.
So far, Photomoji is available on just two of our Android devices this morning. It’s not yet widely rolled out in the beta program, but Reaction Effects — using 👍❤️ 😂😮😡👎💩🎉😠😢 — and Animated Emoji appear to be.
More on Google Messages:
- Google Messages starts rolling out text field redesign with shortcuts bar
- ‘Messages by Google’ is now just ‘Google Messages’
- New Google Messages Profile images will replace your contact photos
- Google Messages preps compose text field redesign and new contacts page [Gallery]
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