Transform Pet Photos Into iPhone Emojis Now

Ever wished you could easily share adorable emojis of your own pet, like the author's precious dog Cinnamon Toast Crunch? If you're an iPhone user, Apple's innovative Live Stickers feature, introduced in iOS 17, makes this a delightful reality. This tool lets you transform photos of your beloved pets (or anything else!) into fun emojis and stickers that you can share with friends and family.

What Exactly Are Live Stickers?

Apple officially rolled out Live Stickers with the launch of iOS 17. This engaging feature is an enhancement of the 'tap-and-lift' subject isolation capability that users might remember from iOS 16. While iOS 16 allowed you to neatly cut out subjects from your photos and Live Photos, iOS 17 takes it a step further by enabling you to save these cutouts as expressive emojis and stickers. This means your favorite pictures of pets, family members, or friends can be transformed into personalized stickers, perfect for jazzing up your conversations in Messages.

For those keen on staying ahead with Apple's mobile operating system, you might also be interested in learning Everything You Need to Know About iOS 18.

Creating Your Custom Pet Emojis A Step by Step Guide

Ready to immortalize your pet in emoji form? It's simpler than you think. Here’s how to take your pictures and make them into emoji and stickers to send in Messages and other apps:

1. Open your Photos app.
2. Tap the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker.
3. Tap and hold the item (your pet, for instance!) in the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker. Wait until you see a white outline appear around the subject.
4. Tap Add Sticker from the menu that pops up.

Make sure you select the folded-over circle icon (often highlighted when active) to view your new emoji. Image: Apple/Screenshot by CNET

Customizing and Using Your New Stickers

Your iPhone will then add the Live Sticker to your Stickers drawer, and it will also appear in your emoji keyboard. If you tap the new sticker within the drawer, you'll be given a few options: Rearrange, Add Effect, or Delete it. Tapping Add Effect is where the fun continues; you can put an effect on your sticker, like a classic white outline to make it look even more like a traditional sticker, or choose other styles like Comic, Puffy, or Shiny.

When you're ready to use your masterpiece in Messages, tap the emoji keyboard icon (usually found in the bottom-left corner of your screen). Then, tap the folded-over circle icon to open your sticker collection and tap the emoji you want to use.

Where Can You Use Live Stickers A Note on Compatibility

According to Apple, you can use your new Live Sticker anywhere you can access emoji. However, the original article notes that there might be some limitations with third-party apps. For instance, attempts to use Live Stickers on the messaging app Slack were unsuccessful, as they wouldn't appear in the app. Similarly, accessing Live Stickers in some other third-party apps, like TikTok, was also problematic. So, you might run into some issues when using your Live Stickers outside of Apple's native apps and devices. They work best within the Apple ecosystem.

Stay Updated on All Things iOS

For more news and updates on Apple's mobile operating system, you can explore information about all the features included in iOS 18.5 and iOS 18.4. You can also check out the comprehensive iOS 18 cheat sheet and see what tech enthusiasts and experts hope to see in the next iteration, iOS 19.