Say hello to the new giraffe, shark, owl and boar Animoji in iOS 12.2

Apple introduced some new Animoji characters in iOS 12.2, with a giraffe, a shark, an owl and a warthog all available in today’s second developer beta of iOS 12.2.

You can use these new animated characters, along with the rest of your Animoji and Memoji, to spice up your conversations in Messages or replace your head with an Animoji in FaceTime video calls (like Apple did on its Leadership page to celebrate World Emoji Day).

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Not many people are aware that Animoji can even be used to create highly personalized stickers in the Messages app: just select a desired Animoji, then strike a pose.

TUTORIAL: How to create, save and share Animoji on iPhone

When satisfied, drag your Animoji to peel it away from the app drawer and drop that thing anywhere in the chat bubble, just like with any regular sticker in the Messages app.

TUTORIAL: How to convert Animoji to GIF

Animoji debuted alongside iPhone X as an iOS 11 feature that requires the TrueDepth camera to capture the user’s facial expressions and mimic their expressions using animated 3D emoji.

Animoji and Memoji can be captured on any device with a TrueDepth camera, including iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and 2018 iPad Pro.

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Twelve Animoji characters were originally available at launch, but iOS 11.3 brought out an additional four characters: a dragon, a bear, a skull and a lion. iOS 12 brought the number of available Animoji to 20 thanks to four new characters: a koala, a tiger, a T-rex and a ghost.

TUTORIAL: How to create your own personalized Memoji

While some people dismissed Animoji as a pure gimmick, others seem to be appreciating the feature as a way to create fun karaoke videos. Gimmicky or not, rivals like Samsung, Asus and others have readily ripped off Animoji wholesale.

And if patent applications by the Cupertino tech giant are anything to go by, future Animoji could even play appropriate sound effects based on a user’s specific facial expression.

Are you excited for the new Animoji in iOS 12.2?

Let us know in the comments down below.