iOS 18 may get AI generated emojis at WWDC 2024

iOS 18 features: Apple will be hosting its annual developers’ conference, dubbed as, the Worldwide Developers’ Conference or WWDC 2024 at Apple Park between June 10 and June 14. As is customary, the company will announce its next generation mobile operating system, that is, iOS 18 at the event. In addition to that, Apple is also likely to announce an AI-generated emojis feature that will be coming to iPhones later this year.

According to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to give iOS 18 an AI boost. Among other things, iOS 18 is likely to get an AI-generated emojis feature. This feature will let iPhone users to create new emojis using the on-device AI. Gurman, in his Power On newsletter wrote that the company “is developing software that can create custom emojis on the fly, based on what users are texting.”

The feature will work in a way that is similar to the way users create images using generative AI-based image generation tools, and it is likely to be an outcome of Apple’s integration with OpenAI.

Beside the ability to create specific emojis using AI, Apple is also updating its overall emojis collection. Unicode Consortium’s updated emoji catalogue indicates that iPhones and iPads will get seven new emojis, which include face with bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, and splatter, sometime between 2024 and 2025.

iOS 18 update: More AI-powered features

In addition to AI-generated emojis feature, Apple is also likely to bring AI power to other aspects of iPhones. Gurman says that Apple is likely to stick to more practical usage of AI on its devices. This means that features such as Siri, Safari and Email could get a major update at WWDC 2024. Additionally, the company is also expected to bring voice memo transcriptions and photo retouching features to its devices later this year.

Additionally, the company is expected bring a “smart recap” feature to iOS 18. This feature will reportedly summarise missed text messages, notifications, documents and web pages among other things.

iOS 18 is also likely to bring more customisation features to iPhones. These new customisation features will let users change the colour of app icons and arrange them freely instead of being restricted to the existing grid format.