How to make a Memoji and be like one of the cool kids

You’ve all heard of emoji and, true to form, Apple has raised the standard by introducing Memoji. A Memoji, for those of you not in the know, is your very own customized emoji that looks like you. You can save it and send it out when messaging someone. The really cool part is that it can also be animated according to what facial expressions you make into your phone screen. Here’s how to make a Memoji and feel like the mad professor from Frankenstein bringing your creation to life.

How to make a Memoji on your iPhone or iPad

Setting up your own Memoji takes only a few minutes. You need at least iOS 13 and an A9 chip in the device. What’s cool about it is that your selfie camera captures your facial expressions. So if you stick your tongue out, the Memoji does too. It’s kind of amusing in a childish kind of way.

• Open iMessage and either start a new message to someone, or open an existing message.
• Tap the Memoji icon beneath the text box. You can see it in the screenshot below under the red arrow.
• If you already have a Memoji set up, you will now see it. But if you want to set up another one, or make your very first one, tap the + icon on the left-hand side.

• At the bottom half of the screen, you will now see all of the various customization options. You start with the skin color, the head shape, the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and so on. Then you move onto facial hair, glasses, and clothes.
• Bear in mind that this is not meant to be a lifelike portrait of you. In some respects, it’s a caricature. So don’t worry if the nose is a little stubby or your face is a little pudgy.
• When you have made the Memoji, tap Done at the top-right to save it. Don’t worry, you can always come back in later and edit the Memoji if you want.

You will now see your Memoji saved and ready to be sent.

• Look directly into your selfie camera and make the appropriate facial expression (happy, sad, laughing, etc.) The Memoji will see your expression and update itself accordingly.
• Holding that facial expression, tap the Memoji and a still version of it will be inserted into the iMessage box. Add a message, if necessary, and then send it to the other person.
• Alternatively, you can send an animated version of up to 30 seconds. Hold the round red recording button and make various facial expressions. Take your finger off the recording button and the animated version will be sent to the other person.

Can I make a Memoji on Android?

Unfortunately, Memojis are an Apple invention, and therefore confined to iOS. However, there is an Android version of Memoji called Bitmoji, and there is also a workaround of sorts to use an Apple Memoji.

The Apple workaround

The workaround is simply to find a friend with an iOS device and make your Memoji on their device. They would then send it to your Android phone in a SMS message and you can save it to your phone storage. You can then turn it into a WhatsApp sticker.

Unfortunately, to edit the Memoji, you would need to go back to your friend’s iPhone and do it there.

Bitmoji

Android’s version of Memoji is Bitmoji and is more or less the same as Apple’s offering. It’s very highly rated (4.5 out of 5) and you create your Bitmoji the same way as an Apple Memoji.

What makes Bitmoji better is that the camera takes a picture of you, which then instantly creates a Bitmoji that looks like you. This is obviously a huge timesaver. With Memoji, you basically have to create the whole thing from scratch without any phone camera help.

What also makes Bitmoji good is that it is integrated into Gboard. So you can bring up your Bitmoji at the literal tap of a button.