Google Phone gets strange 'audio emoji' that play sounds, like fart noises, during calls
Have you ever felt like all that was missing from your phone calls was a fart button? You're in luck.
First reported by 9to5Google, Google is introducing "Audio Emoji" to its Google Phone calling app. Six "emoji" are available, and each one plays an audible sound to both sides of the call. Options include clapping and laughing, which sound just like what you might think, crying, which sends a sarcastic sad trombone, party, sting, which is the classic "ba dum tiss dum" sequence, and poop, which… plays a fart sound.
Google describes the feature like this: "Express emotions and moods with sounds like applause, laughter, sad trombone, and more with tappable emoji while you're in a call."
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Fortunately, there is a time limit so that you can't play the sounds back-to-back. There's also a button to disable the feature entirely if it bothers you, and hopefully that also blocks you from receiving any unwanted noises.
Google is slowly deploying the audio emoji, meaning they aren't available to everyone yet. When they do become available, you'll see an icon for them on the main calling interface. Google hasn't made any official announcement, but screenshots of the feature have been making their way around social media.
In March 2024, Google introduced iMessage-like animated emoji to help users express anger, shock, joy, and more. When you send these emoji, they include an animated fanfare to match. These new audio emoji also feature a brief animated component.
Reddit users were quick to question the need for this feature, with many wondering what the point is outside of messing with scam callers. Did anyone ask for this? Probably not. Will anyone use this? Absolutely.
Google will likely roll out audio emoji to all users in the coming weeks.