Emotions have allowed people to express themselves beyond words. And emojis have gone further than that.
Then came stickers which are indeed better and more complex than emojis. But what's even better than stickers? The answer is personalized stickers.
In chat conversations using modern messaging apps, there are many ways to express one's feelings. Gboard is Google's keyboard app, and it has long allowed users to express themselves in many ways with easy access to GIFs, stickers, and more.
In an update, Google is adding another option, allowing users to create custom stickers based on their own likeness.
These personalized and customizable stickers are called "Mini", which allows users to snap a selfie and have the Gboard create a cartoon emoji based on their likeness, similar to Bitmoji. The feature was first spotted in a Gboard beta released in July 2018, as well as on Android Messages.
And on August 27th, it's going live to all users on Android and iOS.
Read: Google's Gboard App Updates With Built-In Stickers And More Languages
Gboard's Mini feature uses a combination of machine learning, neural networks and artist illustrations to create personalized emoji from users' photos.
The algorithms take into account various users' characteristics like skin tone, hair color and style, eye color, face shape and facial hair.
Google originally released Mini in 2017 as "Selfie Stickers" for the Allo chat app. But as the app is phasing out, the tech giant wants to distribute this Allo's feature to its other products.
Mini can create 100 new sticker styles using users' personalized avatar, on top of the existing ones that rolled out with the original Allo's Selfie Stickers.
"We believe that you have more than one side to your personality, so we have two Mini styles: Bold and Sweet. This lets you be sassy to a best friend and sweet to your loved ones (or vice versa!). Each style has hundreds of stickers, so you can fully express yourself in each style," explained Google.
