Apple is preparing to release iOS 18.4 in April, and that update will likely bring a new Food section to Apple News and new emoji to all iPhones. However, if you have an Apple Intelligence compatible iPhone, like the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max or a device from the iPhone 16 lineup, you don't have to wait for new emoji to land on your iPhone. With iOS 18.2, those iPhones can create custom emoji using Genmoji.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About iOS 18
The Unicode Standard -- a universal character encoding standard -- is responsible for creating new emoji, and once a year approved emoji are added to all devices. With Genmoji, you don't have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone every year. You can create them as you need them.
Here's how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Note that before you use Apple Intelligence, you have to request it for your iPhone. To do so, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap Get Apple Intelligence.
How to make custom emoji
1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap into your emoji keyboard -- the smiley in the bottom left corner of your keyboard.
3. In the search bar, type the emoji you want to create, like "raven on a book."
4. Tap Create New Emoji.
Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, a tapback or a sticker. Now you don't have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.
For more on iOS 18, here's what you need to know about iOS 18.3.2, iOS 18.3.1 and iOS 18.3. You can also check out our iOS 18 cheat sheet.