Emoji are everywhere and there are plenty to choose from. Apple took them to the next level with animated (Animoji) and personalized (Memoji) emoji. Samsung’s version of this called “AR Emoji.” We’ll show you how to use them.
Apple introduced Animoji on the iPhone X in 2017. In typical Samsung fashion, the Galaxy S9 series launched with AR Emoji the following year. There are a lot of similarities between the two, but Samsung does have a few unique features.
RELATED: How to Create and Use Memoji and Animoji on an iPhone
What is AR Emoji on Samsung Galaxy Phones?
In basic terms, Samsung’s AR Emoji are simply animated avatars of yourself. You can use these avatars to make custom emoji, stickers, GIFs, and then send share them with people. They’re fun and more personal than the standard emoji and stickers you might use.
As you may have guessed, the “AR” in “AR Emoji” stands for “augmented reality.” That’s also part of the experience. You can do things like view your avatar in the real world through your camera and animate them with your facial expressions in real-time.
AR Emoji aren’t only avatars of yourself, either. You can wear “masks” of other characters and animate them with your facial expressions. It’s all just a fun way to infuse some personality into your conversations.
How to Make AR Emoji
To use AR Emoji, we’ll start by opening the “AR Zone” app on your Samsung Galaxy device. If your device supports AR Emoji, the app will be pre-installed.
The first thing to do is create your AR emoji. Tap “AR Emoji Studio.”
You can create an AR emoji from the camera or an existing image. We’ll use an image in this example.
Open a photo of yourself and use the circle tool to select your face. Tap “Done” when you’re ready.
Next, you’ll select your body type and tap “Next.”
Here’s the AR emoji created based on your photo. You will probably want to tweak it a bit, which you can do here on the “Looks” tab. Everything from face shape to eyebrows can be customized.
Next, switch over to the “Style” tab and pick out some clothes to wear.
When you’re done customizing, tap “Next” in the top right.
The next screen will say “Your stickers are ready to share,” tap “All Done” to proceed.
How to Use AR Emoji
Now we can put the AR Emoji to use. Go back to the AR Zone home screen and select “AR Emoji Stickers.”
Here is where we can make stickers and GIFs with your AR Emoji. There are a few pre-made reactions at the top that you can use. Select one and you’ll be able to download it, add it to the Always On Display, set it as your contact profile pic, or share it with Messages.
You’ll also notice a “+” button in the top section. This is where you can make your own custom stickers with different reactions and backgrounds. These can be saved and shared just like above.
Under the top section are more sticker expression packs that you can download.
That’s all there is to stickers. Next, we’ll go back to the AR Zone home screen and check out “AR Emoji Camera.”
This is where you can put on an AR “mask” of your custom emoji and see your facial movements in real-time. Select an AR emoji and then tap the shutter button to snap a photo.
In the bottom row, there are options for “Scene,” which adds a background, “Mirror” to see the emoji mimic your movements, and “Play” to drop the AR emoji into the real world.
That’s pretty much the basics of AR Emoji. You can have a lot of fun with these things. Maybe a boring yellow emoji blowing a kiss isn’t personal enough. You can show yourself blowing a kiss without actually sending a real photo. Like Samsung phones themselves, there’s a world of possibilities with AR Emoji.
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