How to Change Your Memoji on iPhone and iPad
Memoji has become one of Apple's most recognizable personalization features — a fully customizable animated avatar that lives inside iMessage, FaceTime, and across iOS. Whether you've changed your hairstyle, want to add glasses, or just want to overhaul your Memoji entirely, editing it is straightforward once you know where to look. The less obvious part is understanding what you can actually change, how different iOS versions affect your options, and how your device's hardware shapes what Memoji can do.
What Is a Memoji, Exactly?
A Memoji is a personalized animated character tied to your Apple ID and device. It's built using a combination of your facial geometry (on Face ID devices) and a customizable visual editor. Unlike a static avatar, Memoji can mirror your facial expressions in real time, making it more of an animated puppet than a simple profile picture.
Memoji are distinct from Memoji Stickers — static image sets generated automatically from your Memoji design — which work across more apps and don't require face-tracking hardware to display.
How to Access and Edit Your Memoji
On iPhone or iPad
- Open the Messages app and start or open any conversation.
- Tap the Apps icon (the plus sign or grid icon, depending on your iOS version) next to the text field.
- Select the Memoji option (the smiley face icon).
- Tap the three-dot menu (•••) on the Memoji you want to edit.
- Select Edit.
Alternatively:
- Go to Settings → [Your Name] → Edit (on some iOS versions this surfaces Memoji options directly).
- Or open the Memoji keyboard, long-press your Memoji, and select Edit.
Once inside the editor, every aspect of your Memoji is adjustable.
What You Can Change in the Memoji Editor
The editor is organized into distinct categories. Here's what each section covers:
| Category | What You Can Customize |
|---|---|
| Skin | Tone, freckles, cheek blush, brow color |
| Head | Face shape, chin, cheekbones, age lines |
| Eyes | Shape, color, lashes, eyeliner |
| Brows | Shape, thickness, color |
| Nose & Lips | Nose shape, lip color, lip shape |
| Ears | Size, shape, hearing aids |
| Facial Hair | Beard and mustache styles and colors |
| Hair | Style, color, highlights |
| Headwear | Hats, headbands, helmets |
| Eyewear | Glasses and sunglasses styles, frame color |
| Accessories | Airpods, piercings |
| Outfit | Top clothing visible at the collar |
Apple has expanded these categories across iOS updates. iOS 17 added features like new hairstyles, body types on some sticker formats, and additional accessibility options like hearing aids and cochlear implants. The range of options you see depends on which iOS version your device is running.
How Your Device Affects the Memoji Experience 🎭
Not every iPhone or iPad interacts with Memoji the same way.
Face ID devices (iPhone X and later, newer iPad Pro and iPad Air models) can use Memoji as a live animated avatar — the front-facing TrueDepth camera tracks 50+ facial muscle movements in real time. This is what powers animated Memoji in FaceTime and the Memoji camera effects in iMessage.
Touch ID devices and older hardware that support Memoji stickers can still create and customize Memoji, but they won't have access to the live face-tracking animation features. You'll get static sticker sets rather than real-time animated responses.
This distinction matters if you're trying to use Memoji as a FaceTime camera overlay or within animated iMessage effects — those features are hardware-dependent.
Creating Multiple Memoji
You're not limited to one. Apple lets you create multiple distinct Memoji under the same Apple ID, which is useful if you want different looks for different contexts — a professional appearance versus a casual one, for example, or separate Memoji for different family members who share a device.
To add a new one, go through the same Memoji panel in Messages, scroll to the end of your existing Memoji, and tap the "+" button to start fresh.
Syncing and Where Your Memoji Appears
Your Memoji syncs across Apple devices signed into the same Apple ID via iCloud. Changes made on your iPhone will reflect on your iPad and vice versa. However, the Memoji is generated and stored locally — it's not a cloud-based account avatar in the traditional sense.
Your Memoji can appear in:
- iMessage (sticker reactions, animated messages)
- FaceTime (as a live camera substitute on supported hardware)
- Contacts (as your profile photo)
- SharePlay and Group FaceTime
- Third-party apps that integrate with the iOS sticker API
Variables That Shape Your Results 🔧
The experience of customizing and using Memoji isn't identical for every user. A few key factors determine what's available to you:
- iOS version: Newer releases consistently expand customization options. Running an older iOS version means fewer hair styles, skin options, and accessories.
- Device hardware: Face ID capability determines whether you get live animation or sticker-only output.
- Where you plan to use it: Animated Memoji in FaceTime requires different hardware than simply dropping a Memoji sticker into a text thread.
- Apple ID and iCloud settings: Syncing across devices requires iCloud to be active and configured correctly.
Someone on an iPhone 15 running the latest iOS will have a noticeably different editing palette and set of live features compared to someone on an older iPad running iOS 15. The core editor works the same way, but the depth of options and output capabilities diverge meaningfully depending on where you sit on that spectrum.