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A study by Adobe showed that 64% of people prefer to use emojis while texting. The same study showed that a lot of people would love to use emojis for other purposes, such as confirming event attendance.
Some people also say they prefer inclusive emojis on the keyboard for better representation. More than half of emoji users would rather customize their emojis to suit them better.
With this growing demand, custom emojis have become more popular. Custom emoji makers allow you to create avatars, meme-worthy expressions, and branded digital stickers. They give you complete control over how you communicate visually, and digitally.
Apple’s iOS devices come with built-in custom emoji features—such as Memoji—that allow you to create animated or static emojis. However, Memoji only supports Apple’s predefined styles. This is where the more flexible third-party Apple emoji makers come in.
So whether you want to express yourself better or create unique reactions for group chats, a custom Apple emoji maker lets you design emojis tailored to your needs. This article will show you the best Apple-compatible tools for creating custom emojis, and help you find the right one for every use case.
In this article
Part 1: Apple’s Built-In Emoji Maker – Genmoji
Before now, iPhone users could personalize avatars using the Apple Memoji creator. However, this was limited to FaceTime, iMessage stickers, and animated videos.
Apple’s introduction of Genmoji in iOS 18 takes emoji customization to the next level by fusing it with AI. This updated feature allows iPhone users to personalize emojis that reflect their unique expressions, styles, and moods. But unlike its older counterpart, Genmoji uses generative AI to create static versions of custom characters that seamlessly integrate into the iOS emoji keyboard. This makes Gemmoji perfect for texts, social media, shared stickers, and regular day-to-day use.
iOS Compatibility & Device Requirement for Genmojis
Apple’s Genmoji is limited to the newer iPhone models. Genmoji was released in December 2024 and is only available on Apple devices that support Apple Intelligence. It is supported on iOS 18 and higher and can be accessed on these devices.
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- All iPhone 16 models
- iPad mini with A17 chip
- All iPads with M-series chip
Apple Intelligence is not available on iPhone or iPad if you’re in the EU and if the country or region of your Apple account is also in the EU.
How to Create Custom Genmojis
Follow these steps to use this emoji creator on your iPhone.
- Tap a text field
- Tap a text field, then tap the Emoji button or the Next Keyboard key to switch to Apple’s emoji keyboard.
- Click the Genmoji button at the top right of your keyboard.
- Describe the custom Genmoji you want to create in the Describe a Genmoji Something “Rainbow pigeon with red wings.”
- Click Done.
- To add the Genmoji to a message, swipe through to find the Genmoji you want to use, then click on Add.
To create a Gennmoji from a photo,
- Input the name of a person you’ve identified in your photo library.
- Add a description, such as “Rachel laughing.”
- Click on Choose a Person.
- Select the person named in your photos library and choose a Genmoji variation.
If you want to alter your emoji after seeing the results of your initial description, simply change the description in the New Genmoji screen. For example, you can change “Rachel laughing hysterically” to “Rachel laughing with braces on.”
How to Delete Custom Genmojis
To delete your Genmojis after creating,
- Tap a text field, then click the Emoji button or the Next Keyboardkey to switch to the emoji keyboard.
- Swipe right or open Stickers.
- Tap the Stickers button, select and hold a Genmoji, then click Remove.
Alternatively, you can click the Apps button in a Messages conversation, click on Stickers, select and hold a Genmoji, and then click on Remove.
Part 2: Best Third-partyApple Emoji Makers for Custom Emoji Creation
Apple's emoji creator is great, but sometimes you need something more personal. Other times, a more applicable tool would do. Fortunately, there are emoji creators designed and suitable for different scenarios. However, not all emoji makers are the same—while some are applicable when editing videos and posting social media content, others are designed for just texting.
Here are some iPhone emoji creators categorized based on their use cases.
For Video Editing & Animation
Filmora
Filmora is a video editing software with an extensive library of stock media and emoji stickers, AI-powered tools, and custom animations that can help you create professional videos for your projects. Filmora’s AI Emoji tool (available only in mobile version) allows you to add emojis that perfectly match to your videos, emphasizing your video captions and adding personality to your video content.
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For Personal Use/Casual Texting
FaceMoji Keyboard
FaceMoji emoji keyboard integrates emoji creation into everyday texting, allowing you to use emojis directly on any app. This Apple emoji creator is connected directly to your keyboard and is ideal if you’re looking for a tool to add emojis instantly in texts.
Aside from its large library of emojis, Facemmoji has an AI integration that helps you answer questions, write emails, and translate languages. You can also generate personalized stickers based on your face, choose from a collection of animated stickers and GIFs, and type messages in cool, stylish fonts.
For Social Media
Emoji Me Sticker Maker
Emoji Me Face Maker is a great tool for social media users and creators who want to turn their own faces into emojis. This Apple emoji maker uses AI to turn real faces into emoji-style stickers, making it a great option for influencers and brands who want very personal emoji reactions for social media.
All emojis on Emoji Me Face Maker are animated. So, when creating your custom emojis, you can choose your different emoji expressions, add texts to them, and share them on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and other platforms.
Part 3: Bonus: Create Matching Emojis Automatically For Videos in Custom Apple Emoji Maker [iPhone]
Most of the traditional Apple’s Emoji Maker gives users creative freedom to design standalone personalized emojis for texting , but what if you want to integrate emojis directly into videos? Creating AI emojis with Filmora on your iPhone works differently from most other emoji makers for iPhone. Instead of manually placing each emoji, Filmora AI emoji tool can automatically scans your video’s audio to generate captions with relevant emojis while editing.
It intelligently places emojis in sync with the captions, making the process both dynamic and effortless. In addition, AI emojis come in an AI package where you can choose to attach emojis on generated captions, lay emphasis on the captions on the screen, or zoom in to or track the speaker in the video.
Follow these steps to add iPhone emojis to your video with Filmora.
- Step 1: Install Filmora on your iPhone. Open the app and tap on the AI Emoji to select a video from your device. Auto Identity automatically sets the video language to your regional language. Turn it off to set your preferred language. Select the AI packaging you want and disable the ones that are not necessary. Click Add Caption to auto-generate emojis and captions in sync with your video audio.
secure download - Step 2: Next, add AI emojis. Filmora allows you to place emojis over the text captions in your video. Simply select each word and click on an emoji to assign to each word. You can also resize the text/emoji and adjust its placement on the video.
- Step 3. To apply one emoji for all the texts on the screen, enable Apply to all captions. Select the arrow to the right on your text bar to access more texts if your video has more than one line of caption text.
Tip:If you want just the emoji displayed on your video without the text, drag the word down till it disappears from your screen.
Conclusion
Emojis have evolved beyond smiley faces in your text messages. Now, they can communicate personal expressions on a deeper level, add character to your videos, and even boost social media engagement if used right.
To get the best result in emoji creation, choose an emoji maker for your iPhone based on its unique features and use cases. Filmora is your go-to editor when it comes to integrating emojis into your videos. It is simple and seamless and allows you to further edit your video with even more customization options.
