The new Animoji and Memoji have split opinion

Apple’s animated emoji, known as Animoji, have been given an update in iOS 12 in the form of four new characters, but also with a new personal mode – Memoji.

iOS users will soon be able to create an emoji version of themselves alongside the new ghost, T-rex, tiger and koala bear Animoji that were revealed at WWDC.

Memoji will be highly customisable, with users able to create multiple versions of them, changing hairstyles, eye colour, skin tone and adding glasses, freckles and other features.

The tech giant also revealed Animoji now supports tongue detection for the first time, meaning those karaoke clips that have become infamously tied to Animoji will now be even more expressive.

Yet even though Animoji has been with us since last year, the response to the latest way to communicate remains very mixed.

The concept, however, is one that is catching on in the tech world – earlier this year Samsung announced its own take on animated emoji as it launched its Galaxy S9.

The Korean firm’s take was a lot closer to Memoji, creating animated emoji based on a user’s face, so with Apple now following suit the idea of one tech giant supposedly taking inspiration from the other becomes even more confused.

For Apple users, the reach of Animoji within iOS is also increasing, with the animated characters also usable within FaceTime – itself having been given a big update at WWDC with group calling now possible up to 32 people.

Those announcements and the rest of what Apple had to show off at WWDC will become available to users in the early autumn, when iOS 12 rolls out publicly.