Google adds 'audio emoji' feature including a fart button

• New tool lets you surprise your chat partner on the Phone by Google app
• READ MORE: iPhone users find hidden emoji hack – here’s how to try it

If you ever wanted to break the ice during a phone call, Google has the perfect tool for you.

The tech giant is introducing new ‘Audio Emoji’ to its ‘Phone by Google’ app that could catch your chat partner off guard.

As reported by 9to5google, tapping on the emoji sends a five-second animation accompanied by a cheeky sound effect during a call.

Users can select from six emoji in total, including a hand clapping, a sad trombone (‘wah wah wah!’) and a fart sound, indicated by the poop emoji.

Here’s how to try Audio Emoji, which seems to be proving a hit with users.

Playing annoying sound effects could catch your chat partner off guard – and break the ice during those awkward moments

Tapping on the ‘Audio Emoji’ button during the call will bring up the six options

Six new audio emojis  

• Clapping
• Laughing 
• Party
• Crying
• Poop
• Sting (‘ba dum tss!’)

People took to social media to discuss the feature, with one Reddit user saying, ‘This is going to be so irritating, I love it!’

Another posted: ‘Did anyone ask for this? No. Am I still gonna use it? Yes lol.’

Someone else posted: ‘Imagine you are calling your friend after getting fired and talking to him about the stress you are going through, and suddenly, your friend starts playing weird audio emoji sounds.’

Yet another Reddit user called Audio Emoji a ‘great idea’ as it could be used to put off scammers on the other end of the line

Another fan said Google is effectively ‘bringing back MSN Winks’ – the animations that would fill up most of your computer screen on MSN Messenger about 20 years ago.’

However, someone else on X (Twitter) seemed less impressed, saying Google should instead ‘focus on improving things’.

According to the tech giant, the tool lets you ‘express emotions and moods with sounds like applause, laughter, sad trombone and more with tappable emoji while you’re in a call’.

The feature, which can be toggled on and off, lets you better express ’emotions and moods with sounds’

READ MORE iPhone users find hidden emoji hack

To activate the feature, you need to first make sure you have the Phone by Google app installed on your Android device.

However, to use Phone by Google, you must agree to have it set as your default phone app – which may replace whatever app you were already using.

Once you initiate a call, a small pop-up button above the menu should be visible with the words ‘Audio Emoji’.

Tapping the button should bring up the six emoji options for you to press and irritate or amuse your chat partner.

The ‘Clapping’ emoji shows five pair of hands clapping to the sound of cheering, while the ‘Laughter’ emoji has corny canned laughter with an animation of inflatable tube puppets.

There’s also whooping and cheering with balloons and confetti (‘Party’), a drum kit playing the classic sequence that follows a joke (‘Sting’) and the sad trombone sound (‘Crying’).

Tapping on the ‘Poop’ emoji shows an ice cream cone containing a questionable brown splodge falling to the ground, accompanied by a brief fart noise.

According to 9to5google, the chosen sound effect is heard on both ends of the phone call – although much fun could be had by unleashing a sound effect and pretending you didn’t hear anything.

There’s also a setting to disable Audio Emoji entirely, although it’s unclear if you’ll still hear the sound effects if your chat partner has the feature on.

To toggle off, head to the menu indicated by the three dots followed by Settings and then Audio Emoji.

Google tends to have its Phone by Google app pre-installed on its own Pixel smartphones. Pictured, Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro released in 2023

Google’s latest Pixel phone is expected to be released in October, although the tech giant may give a sneak preview at its i/o event next week

If you can’t see Audio Emoji on the app yet, it should launch for all users in the coming weeks, according to 9to5google.

Google tends to have its Phone by Google app pre-installed on its own Pixel smartphones, while other Android devices (such as Samsung) will have another default app pre-installed.

Google’s latest Pixel phone is expected to be released in October, although the tech giant may give a sneak preview at its i/o event on May 14.

Last year, it released the £699 Pixel 8 and £99Pixel 8 Pro, as well as its Pixel Fold with an eyewatering £1,749 price tag.

Careful with your emojis! Study finds old people are using emoticons wrong – and the meaning can vary from country to country 

Older people are more likely to use emojis incorrectly and their meanings can vary wildly from country to country, a new study has found.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham found that older texters were less successful than younger people when trying to match emojis to the emotion they are supposed to represent.

This could mean older people are more likely to send an inappropriate emoticon, such as a smiley face, or an angry face, at the wrong time.

Woe betide any grandchildren whose grandparents decide to make an aubergine casserole or a peach cobbler.

And if your great aunt sends you a sweating red-faced emoji with its tongue sticking out, she just means that you needs the air conditioning turned on.

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