Apple's adding animated avatars to the iPhone you can send in iMessage - here's how you'll create Memoji

apple wwdc 2018

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, introduces the new Memoji feature at Apple's WWDC developer conference on Monday.

iPhone users will get a fun new feature with iOS 12 when it drops later this year - the ability to create their own animated avatars to send to friends.

Apple calls the new avatars Memoji, and they'll work much like the infamous animated emoji - or Animoji - the company launched last year. They'll mimic users' facial expressions and head movements. But unlike with Animoji, users will be able to customize their Memoji, selecting their avatars' hair color and hairstyle, their skin color, and even have their Memoji wear sunglasses.

Users will be able to send their Memoji to friends using iMessage, or use them in place of their own faces in FaceTime, the iPhone's video calling app.

Here's how users will be able to create and use Memoji: