Become Your Own Emoji: Apple Announces "Memoji"

SAN JOSE (CNET) — You're not limited to being a robot or a poop emoji anymore — now Apple lets you make your own Animoji, calling it "Memoji."

At Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, in San Jose, California, on Monday, the company announced new features coming to Animoji, its hit augmented reality feature that allows you to put a digital mask over your face in iMessage.

When Apple first announced it alongside the iPhone X — the only device it's available for because of its front-facing True Depth camera — there weren't many characters available. People were limited to Animoji like cats, dogs, and a poop emoji.

Now Apple has expanded it, with Animoji like ghosts, tigers and koalas. But the possibilities are now endless with Memoji, which lets people customize their own digital masks to whatever they would like.

"We wanted to take Animoji even further," Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, said on stage. "You can now create your very own, personalized Animoji."

The face-tracking feature follows your movements, so when you smile or raise your eyebrows, so will the Animoji. Apple also announced a new tongue-tracking feature on Monday, and also extended Animoji features to Facetime chats.

"We're all going to be sticking out our tongues to our phones in the near future," Federighi said.

Animoji will also be available in the newly expanded FaceTime video-chatting feature. Group FaceTime will allow up to 32 people to chat online together at the same time.

Apple's update for iOS 12 joins the race in customized emojis, a popular feature that companies like Samsung and Snap are both chasing. Samsung announced AR Emoji last March for the Galaxy S9, which uses your front facing camera to automatically create a 3D emoji.

In 2016, Snap bought Bitmoji, another custom emoji company, for $64 million.