In certain situations, a single emoji may fall short in conveying your message effectively. While a standard angry face might suffice to express your displeasure with your roommate’s enthusiasm for experimental jazz at six in the morning, what you truly need is an angry face crowned with a top hat, clutching a stop sign emblazoned with a saxophone and a prohibition symbol. That would certainly leave no room for ambiguity.
Before the release of Apple’s latest major iOS update, creating such a complex composition—requiring at least six emojis—would have been an impossible feat, confined to mere imagination. However, this is no longer the case.
With the introduction of iOS 17, iMessage now allows users to stack an unlimited number of emojis on top of each other. This new feature enables you to design custom emoji configurations that more accurately convey the emotions or messages you intend to communicate.
To stack emojis in iMessage, you begin with a base layer emoji. While you can send this initial emoji in its regular size by simply tapping it, a more effective approach involves dragging the selected emoji into the chat bar and adding it as a sticker. This action enlarges the emoji, thereby increasing the size of your creative canvas.
If you prefer to use a non-emoji sticker as your initial layer—such as a Memoji—you can do so by tapping the plus symbol in iMessage and then selecting Stickers.
In any case, you must first send your selected base layer emoji into the chat before you can begin layering additional emojis on top. Admittedly, this can be somewhat inconvenient, as a quickly responding recipient might see your incomplete emoji creation before you have finished it. To mitigate this, we recommend planning your subsequent emojis in advance before sending the base layer.
Once your base layer is active in the chat, you can click, drag, and drop any number of additional emojis onto it. Each new emoji you add will cause your iPhone to vibrate as if sending a separate message, and likely, the recipient’s phone will also buzz with each new addition.
In the event of an error, you can refine your work by pressing and holding the base layer, selecting Sticker Details, and subsequently deleting any undesired layers. Furthermore, you can modify the position and size of an emoji by pressing and dragging it, or pinching to adjust its dimensions. Understandably, this process becomes increasingly intricate as additional emojis are added (note that covering the entire base layer will prevent any alterations).
While any emoji can be added to the canvas, those with multiple skin tone options pose particular challenges when stacking. It is advisable to drag these directly from the variations menu to the base layer without lifting your finger from the screen once you’ve chosen your desired variation.
With these steps, you’re now equipped to layer emojis to your liking, enhancing your ability to express opinions creatively, even towards eclectic genres like experimental jazz.
For more tips to enhance your iPhone experience, explore our compilation of five hidden iOS tricks to expedite navigation, along with our comprehensive guide on the hidden iPhone feature that will transform your screenshot-taking process.
