Now Send 3D Animated Animal Emojis With Your Android Device Using Microsoft SwiftKey

Microsoft-owned keyboard app, Swiftkey, knows how to keep its user up with the latest trends. In its recent move, the company has announced a major addition to its Android beta in the form of AR-powered emoji. Through the new animated emojis, the artificial intelligence (AI) replicates a person’s detailed facial expressions inside a 3D animal character. Announcing the move on its official handle, SwiftKey tweeted, “Introducing Puppets – new in SwiftKey Beta for Android! Create and share videos of your own virtual puppets that mimic your facial expressions, head movements and voice. Which character is your favorite?”

The feature is gradually rolling out on July 5 and will enable users to record themselves as a panda, cat, dinosaur, owl, or dog directly within the SwiftKey keyboard. The feature includes actions such as head movements, blinks, smiles, and the rest.

Deepak Paramanand, Microsoft product manager, wrote in his blog post, “We wanted to give SwiftKey fans a fun way to communicate with their loved ones beyond pre-defined GIFs. That's why we created Puppets, a group of cute and furry friends that people can control just by being themselves. Choose one of five animals, record a message of less than 30 seconds and share it via one of the many popular communication apps supported by Android devices.”

The new feature relies only on the front camera of the phone and is powered by Microsoft’s 3D face tracking technology, which uses the cameras found in most smartphones. The app will allow users to record a video for 30-seconds and share it across. While the app is compatible to almost all smartphones, it will work best with the new and updated phones.