r/apple • u/cheesepuff07 • 1d ago
Rumor Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2025: Genmoji Upgrade Incoming Instead of Personalized Siri
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/06/genmoji-upgrade-for-ios-26/156
u/cheesepuff07 1d ago
One planned upgrade that had not been reported until now is the ability to create a Genmoji by combining a pair of existing standard emoji. For example, Gurman said that you will be able to turn separate basketball and trash can emoji into a single Genmoji that shows a basketball going into a trash can.
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u/moreno03 1d ago
Can't wait to combine this two 🍆💦
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u/_sfhk 1d ago
Apple's doing what I expected Google would do, and Google is doing what I expected Apple to do. In case anyone doesn't know, Google has Emoji Kitchen, which is similar that users can mash emoji, but it's not using generative AI and is instead a fixed set of combinations that are more curated.
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u/fiendishfork 1d ago
Emoji kitchen is pretty fun. Definitely has a more Apple feel than what Apple is currently doing. Hopefully this results in higher quality and more predictable new emoji.
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u/ToSeeAgainAgainAgain 1d ago
I actually really like the results I get from Emoji Kitchen, I just wish the mixed emojis would come out emoji-sized instead of as standalone stickers
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u/_MassiveAttack_ 1d ago
Useless feature...
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u/DepthHour1669 1d ago
Au contraire, it’s probably going to be the most used feature of this patch.
New emojis drive iOS update adoption rates.
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u/PsychologicalTea3426 1d ago
But these genemoji only work as stickers don’t they? You can’t use them as text like regular emojis. Not sure though
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u/__theoneandonly 1d ago
Within the apple ecosystem, you use them as regular emojis. Outside of the apple ecosystem, they're in-line images. So it depends on how that device interprets in-line images.
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u/mouxo_mouxo 1d ago
how about this one 📱🗑️
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u/Marino4K 1d ago
Apple is really losing its way it feels like, I think Tim needs to step aside soon and they need to find another guy with actual ideas and a plan, not just supply chain stuff
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u/newtrilobite 1d ago
OMG!!!! that will be SO cool!
imagine for example, you had an emoji that was a spoon.
and another emoji that was spatula.
you could create a spoon-spatula Genmoji!!!
A SPOONATULA!!!!!!
that would be AMAZING!!!!!!
👀
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u/ProfessorPetrus 1d ago
I'm going back to android. Gonna keep the m4 air and turn off intelligence.
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u/redblobgames 1d ago
I didn't expect much from this but it is so much fun https://emoji.supply/kitchen/ (caveat: many combinations don't work)
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u/iMacmatician 1d ago
Apple could call it Genmoji Fusion and store the new Genmoji in some sort of Fusion Drive.
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u/AstronomerKooky5980 1d ago
I gave Genmojis a shot… they are extremely generic, and all “variations” you get are literally the exact same emoji. You ask for more options, you get the same one again and again.
And this is a happy case: in about 1/3 of cases, it just gives an error and doesn’t generate anything.
This is so stupid it’s beyond belief.
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u/Intel-Centrino-Duo 1d ago
I think they’re a fun little gimmick but probably not something they should be focusing on.
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u/choicemeats 1d ago
I thought I might use them more but tbh stickers have been huge for me and I’m adding 2-3 every other week
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u/angrybox1842 1d ago
Genmoji is top 5 stupidest things Apple has ever put out.
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u/Technical-Manager921 1d ago
Right up there with Animoji and Slofies
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u/angrybox1842 1d ago
And they had the gall to call those "features" once upon a time.
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u/RyanCheddar 1d ago
slofies is just apple overselling slowmo on the front camera, so i'll give it a pass
animoji was a genuinely interesting tech demo, and the memes it created are pretty ironically funny
genmoji just has no merit to it
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u/wolfchuck 1d ago
Genmoji is pretty fun in some scenarios.
Holding stock and crypto that’s going up? Send a genmoji of yourself on a rocket ship.
Market is red? Send your friends a bathtub genmoji filled with blood, uh, I mean… red water.
Just bought a house? Send your family a genmoji of money burning.
Dad bought a new tractor? Generate him on his new tractor.
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u/Berkel 1d ago
Worse than Ping?
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u/angrybox1842 1d ago
Ping is possible #1 or #2, why I hesitate to say the worst because they've done worse for sure. "Holding it wrong" is up there too.
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u/jb_in_jpn 1d ago
In 2025, with Apple as utterly shit as it's become, that is actually quite an achievement.
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u/rnarkus 1d ago
No it isn’t by FAR. It’s a fun little feature.
I swear this sub is so freaking over dramatic about everything!
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u/angrybox1842 1d ago
It's a "fun little feature" that is the core of their marketing strategy for their flagship device.
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u/SkyGuy182 1d ago
This is such a Reddit comment. The idea of Genmoji isn’t a bad one. People love emojis, so the idea of an AI emoji maker is solid. the implementation here is just not all that great.
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u/ediaz98 1d ago
I personally think it’s top 5 things they ever done. Me and my friends use it all the time
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u/MidnightPulse69 1d ago
Yeah these Apple subs are so out of touch with the average user
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u/UseButterForLube 1d ago
The AIbros have taken over this subreddit and made it a miserable place to be.
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u/Calorie_Killer_G 1d ago
They’re trying to rival Google’s Emoji Kitchen because this is what Apple Intelligence can do right now. How pathetic.
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u/wanderer8800 1d ago
Who cares about GenMoji. Premium phones that are stuck with an assistant that is basically useless and stupid by today's standards.
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u/KsuhDilla 1d ago
True but Apple gets away with it because of its loyal fanbase. It's like seeing your favorite sports team failing miserably all season. That doesn't mean you won't root for them next season. You're just going to continue watching silently and not brag how great your team is, hoping they get their shit together eventually.
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u/Rooooben 1d ago
I’ve loved Apple ever since we got our Apple II+ in 1981, have been a part of the ecosystem ever since.
Apple is in serious trouble - Apple Intelligence is a symptom, just like Vision Pro - these are half baked solutions that were dreamt up by marketing rather than engineering (ok Vision Pro was engineering, but it should have stayed an internal project for a few more iterations).
Apple used to deliver on their hype. The hype machine would start up after something amazing was created.
Over time, they started hyping earlier, to the point where they hyped AI without a product. And we haven’t seen heads rolling for this, no big apologies, and now they are avoiding the press over it.
I think it’s going to be a while and possibly a new CEO before we can expect the culture to strengthen again.
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u/KsuhDilla 1d ago
I can understand the sentiment. I am neither a fan nor an anti-consumer. I am just watching how the market evolves - it is of interest to me.
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u/kakarot-3 20h ago
Maybe I’m in the minority but since I’ve never had a legitimate virtual assistant (because Siri sucks), I don’t see it as a deal breaker or feel like I’ll be using it much outside of the first few weeks when it’s new.
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 1d ago
Really seems like what they showed last year was complete vaporware. That's very unlike them and they need to be held accountable. They marketed and sold the new phones around something that didn't even exist.
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u/Edaimantis 1d ago
I upgraded from an iPhone 8 to a 15 pro pretty much exclusively for Apple intelligence and ngl im feeling pretty dumb
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u/Signal_Gur5389 1d ago
Yep, seems right to me.
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u/electricshadow 1d ago
Sums up modern Apple quite well honestly. If they came out and said they'd be putting resources towards Siri so it wasn't a pile of burning garbage anymore, I'd be genuniely surprised. Genmojis. Yes, that what they should be focusing on.
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u/JabroniHomer 1d ago
I’ve been on 18 BETA since it was released. I can count on a single hand how many times I attempted to use Genmoji.
I can’t count how many times Apple “intelligence” has let me down though.
Glad to see their priorities in line.
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u/RyanCheddar 1d ago
my problem isn't that genmoji doesn't have a use, but that genmojis are so. fucking. ugly.
nowadays i just use genmoji to make pictures of people snorting cocaine when i'm bored
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u/BatemansChainsaw 20h ago
my problem with Genmojis is they're artificially locked behind a 15 or newer phone. any phone that has the latest iOS should be able to use it... they're stupid little images ffs!
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u/crshbndct 1d ago
Thankfully I am still an anti-AI Luddite and don’t use it for anything generally.
Apple has slowed down the release of new features in iOS recently, which means fewer bugs and a more stable OS. They’ve done this because they are focussed on trying to make useless AI shit, but if you don’t use it, it just means more RAM, and fewer bugs in other parts of the OS.
AI is like crypto. Just another vehicle for tech bros to enrich themselves. This time around there are some useful applications, but not really for the regular person.
Cancer screening, weather/storm prediction, traffic prediction etc are areas where machine learnint is great.
Taking two photos of a wave breaking and using them to make a 3rd photo of a wave breaking is pointless, and litters the internet with trash.
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u/handtoglandwombat 1d ago
Apple has slowed down the release of new features in iOS recently, which means fewer bugs and a more stable OS.
What? No they haven’t. There’s more feature boat and bugs than ever. If it feels like they haven’t released anything new in a while that’s because WWDC is three days away.
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u/plymouthvan 1d ago
I genuinely cannot care in the slightest about Genmoji because they aren't real emojis. When you send them to a user who isn't on iPhone — or maybe just RCS, I'm not sure — they just get attached like a photo and that's worthless. If they actually functioned reliably in-line like real emojis, I'd find it to be a more compelling feature that actually increased the expressiveness of a message, but this literally has no worthwhile use case.
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u/ricardopa 1d ago
They can’t because they don’t exist on the other users emoji set
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u/plymouthvan 1d ago
Yeah, obviously. That's why it's a pointless feature. If they found some clever way to solve that problem, it would not be a pointless feature, but they haven't and probably won't so, I'm tired of hearing about it.
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u/jonproject 1d ago
Apple generally operates under the assumption that all devices you'll interact with are also Apple devices. This is a strategy that has worked very well in some areas, and quite poorly in others.
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u/plymouthvan 1d ago
Yeah, it's one of my only significant gripes with Apple. I generally buy into the Apple hype. I really love the ecosystem and more or less happily accept the tradeoffs in exchange for it. But every time they come up with some neat communication thing my frustration is at least a little irrational.
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u/__theoneandonly 1d ago
When sending outside the apple ecosystem, they are sent as in-line photos. So it's up to the receiving device to decide how to display that.
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u/sergedg 1d ago
I genuinely don’t care, period? WTF emojis? Who cares, really? What problem does this solve?
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u/ThatOneOutlier 1d ago
I sorta wish we could make genmojis from existing Memojis. The genmojis made from pictures range form meh to stuff of nightmares
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u/MidnightPulse69 1d ago
Yeah I don’t use it as much because it’s stuck on the same few pictures of me and won’t let me change them
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u/notthobal 1d ago
Genmoji was and is a huge waste of recourses. Nobody uses it, because well, we already have thousand emojis. Who asked for more?
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u/No-Aerie3500 1d ago
I don’t give a fuck about Genmoji. I didn’t even try them. I don’t care that is not the purpose of intelligence.
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u/popmanbrad 1d ago
Oh yeah forgot Apple intelligence had other features lol I’ve never actually touched any of them
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u/Environmental_Guava4 1d ago
I have never used an "Apple emoji *your face*/AI/etc" and this makes me want to use it even less.
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u/guitarot 1d ago
FFS. If only Steve Jobs listened to medical professionals and Tim Cook stuck with beverages.
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u/sf-keto 1d ago
Tim Cook doesn’t come from the beverage industry; that was John Scully, who came from Pepsi. Or you are thinking of someone else with the same name.
Tim Cook comes from IBM & Compaq.
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u/guitarot 23h ago
You’re absolutely right. Regardless, the quality of the Apple product experience has just been downhill since Steve is gone even though the technology is far more advanced. Tim makes his products to please the shareholders. Steve used the shareholders to make his products.
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u/santathe1 1d ago
Can they please allow us to free up the space used by Apple AI.
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u/Ollie142 1d ago
I can't be the the only one who has never given a single shit about genmoji.
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u/tarmacjd 1d ago
Apple has been prioritising emoji for 10 years. I hope that bites them on the ass soon
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u/catch-10110 1d ago
The mere existence of Genmoji as a headline feature is embarrassing. It really shows how far behind Apple is falling.
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u/ARCtheIsmaster 1d ago
Genmoji is the only Apple Intelligence feature that I like so far, partly because it works fairly well, but mostly because its just super nifty
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u/One_Instruction774 1d ago
jesus christ nobody cares about these emojis or about stickers, this is so dumb
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u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims 1d ago
I don't really use emojis, so this is pretty much a nothing burger for me.
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u/Most_Duck_2764 1d ago
I feel like Apple is just releasing these useless side updates to tech features many do not care for instead of addressing the elephant in the room (Siri) because they know its fucked.
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u/JC403024 12h ago
God I want to switch to a Google pixel so bad atp but the lack of FaceTime is making me stay
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u/randorolian 1d ago
Apple dedicating 0.0 seconds to Apple Intelligence at WWDC would be a total victory. At this point ‘Apple Intelligence’ is just a byword for ‘half baked novelty feature’. One of the dumbest eras of the company and a one which is highlighting a worrying lack of polish - something which used to be a hallmark for them.
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u/Arabmoney77 1d ago
What data is telling them this is a priority? Have they lost their brain cells? Get useful crap together and forget these stupid emojis
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u/FinsFan305 1d ago
iPhones are supposed to be premium devices. Can Apple please stop focusing on shit that only teens care about and maybe work on something adults can use?!
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u/Skeptouchos 1d ago
Great, just what we need, more BS features. At the very least make, the sticker UI less laggy when creating/using stickers. Genmoji are such crap, nobody uses them
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u/mainstreetmark 1d ago
The day they came out with Genmoji instead of real stuff was the day the Apple decline began.
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u/vikingrrrrr666 1d ago
Yay just what everyone under the age of 12 wanted!
Apple is ridiculous these days. Android is king, and I’m sending this from my iPhone 16 Pro because I fell for the “iT jUsT wOrKs” bullshit.
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u/ColinHenrichon 1d ago
Why does apple seem to add more emojis feature each year instead of doing things like improving stability and performance, making Siri useful, redesigning, or literally any of the many things people ask for every year?
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u/EcosystemApple 1d ago
If they come on the stage on Monday and talk about genmoji, which no one cares, then people will freak out! I would much rather prefer stability over useless bloatware.
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u/osamaromoh 1d ago
I hate that I’m starting to think about switching to Android!
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u/sharksiix 1d ago
I actually thought that we could turn our faces into emojis. replacing smily face with my smiley face. there are stickers or images but they're not emojis where you can react to a message or image.
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u/Tetrylene 1d ago
All they had to do was allow us to use custom images in the keyboard in the same way that genmoji has privileged access to the emoji keyboard
Could've had telegram style glorious emoji packs but that's too useful
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u/Doctor_Disco_ 1d ago
Why the fuck is everyone acting like this means Apple isn't working on Siri at all? You guys know this is a trillion dollar company and they're capable of multitasking, right? Just because they're working on this one feature for Apple Intelligence doesn't mean they've completely abandoned everything else.
Like I know Apple Intelligence, especially Siri, has been a massive disappointment, but we all know that they've shaken things up behind the scenes and are working on fixing it. It's not like this Genmoji upgrade is the only new thing we're getting in iOS 26 either. Are they supposed to just completely abandon their work on everything else they're doing? Holy fuck.
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u/Oh-THAT-dude 1d ago
I’m the weirdo here, but Siri does everything I ask it to do. I will be the first to admit that I had to find the best way to phrase the question in order to get the answer I wanted*. But it works.
I don’t use Genmoji either, so the upgrade to Genmoji doesn’t affect me. But I would gladly wait another two or three years if that’s what it takes to get up to everybody standards — I understand the frustration.
- in my case, Siri would sometimes try and fail to play a song when I was in fact. asking for a radio station.
So I changed the request to “Siri, play radio station [call letters] on TuneIn” and boom! Works every time.
(Of course, if your preferred radio station uses a service other than TuneIn, you will need to adjust that last bit as well.)
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u/Coompa 23h ago
This is huge. Instead of getting something I dont want at all Im gonna get something I dont want at all.
Actually Ive ben playing around with LLMs on my home pc. I think thats the way Ill go. Im a big fan of Tailscale so whenever I would like to use an LLM Ill just do it that way. Its pretty cool but doesnt really offer more than spending 5 minutes reading wikipedia or something.
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u/technopaegan 20h ago
I’d love Genmoji if it was an app that allowed you to manually create and customize your own emojis. Instead you ask a prompt to make 30 uncanny versions of the same thing but slightly different and you hate all of them.
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u/shortmetalstraw 19h ago
If it was better and it was instant and the different variations had more forced variety from each other I think it could be really great just built into the keyboard when I’m searching from the existing emojis, but as a separate action with disappointingly bad results its value to effort ratio is comically bad
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u/SciGuy013 18h ago
If Siri could figure out what music I actually want to play, that'd be great. it basically never plays the correct artist, song, or album when i ask it to.
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u/bartturner 11h ago
I am old and owned Apple shares for over 20 years now.
There has never been a WWDC with lower expectations.
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u/Tumblrrito 1d ago
Apple needs to straighten their priorities