How to Use Animoji and Memoji Stickers in iOS 13

Tuesday June 25, 2019 3:50 PM PDT by Tim Hardwick
In iOS 11, Apple introduced animated emoji characters called Animoji, which are designed to mimic your facial expressions. Later in iOS 12, Animoji grew to encompass Memoji, which are customizable humanoid Animoji characters that you can design to look just like you.


Memoji and Animoji are limited to Apple's iPhones with TrueDepth technology, but in iOS 13, Apple added several different Animoji and Memoji stickers that can be used on all Apple devices with an A9 chip or later.

Animoji/Memoji stickers let you express yourself with a character that looks like you, using classic emoji-like poses and faces, such as heart eyes, brain exploding, shushing face, laughing with tears, crying, shrugging, face palm, and more. Keep reading to learn how to use them when sending Messages.

  1. Launch the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap the New Message icon in the top-right of the screen, or select an existing message thread that you want to use to send an Animoji/Memoji sticker.

  3. If you're sending a new message, enter a contact in the To: field.
  4. Tap the App Store icon beside the message field, which appears at the top of the onscreen keyboard.
  5. Tap the icon consisting of three Memoji faces.

  6. You'll see a horizontally scrolling list of faces including Animoji and any Memoji you've created. Tap a face to access a selection of pre-defined stickers – select one to send as a message, add a comment if desired and then tap the Send button.
  7. Alternately, tap the plus (+) icon to create a new Memoji, and you'll be sent to the Memoji creation screen.

  8. From here, you can create your lookalike in digital form by choosing from a gallery of facial features and characteristics. When you're happy with your Memoji, tap Done.
  9. Choose a pose from your newly generated Memoji sticker gallery to send as a message, add a comment if desired and then tap the Send button.
Note that Memoji and Animoji stickers are accessible not only in the Messages app, but also in other places like Mail and Notes through the emoji icon on the iOS virtual keyboard.

Related Roundups: iOS 13, iPadOS
Tag: Messages