Make an AI sticker from your photo, then write what happens in it

How to make an AI sticker from your photo

To make an AI sticker from your photo, pick the tool by the sticker you want: Genmoji for a custom emoji of you, ChatGPT for a set of stickers in a style, or an AI sticker app for an animated sticker that starts from your photo.

Without AI, the iPhone Photos app can make a regular sticker: touch and hold the person in a photo and tap Add Sticker. It cuts out what is already in the photo and cannot add a new action, according to Apple's iOS 27 guide, checked on November 8, 2026. For every way to make a regular sticker, see photo to sticker on iPhone.

A Genmoji of you, built into iPhone

Genmoji needs Apple Intelligence, which runs on an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or an iPhone 16 model or later, and is not in every language or region. The steps from Apple's Genmoji guide, checked on November 8, 2026:

1. Tap a text field, then switch to the emoji keyboard.
2. Tap Genmoji at the top right of the keyboard.
3. Tap the person button and select a person from your Photos library, up to three people, then add a description.
4. Tap the create button, then describe a change to refine it, and tap the done button when you are happy.

Your Genmoji is saved with your stickers, so you can send it as a sticker in Messages. Apple's guide does not describe Genmoji as animated.

A set of stickers with ChatGPT

ChatGPT lets you upload a photo and describe the stickers you want, then add them to iMessage, WhatsApp or Photos. iGeeksBlog's guide to ChatGPT stickers (August 25, 2026, checked on November 8, 2026) says WhatsApp exports need at least three stickers at a time, and does not call the stickers animated.

An animated AI sticker in the Dappi sticker app

In the Dappi sticker app, choose AI Sticker, add your photo, write what you want to happen and tap Generate Sticker, and you get a short animated sticker that starts from your photo. You need the app on iOS 17 or later, signed in to your account.

1. Tap the purple plus button in the tab bar and choose AI Sticker at the top.
2. Under Your photo, tap Camera or Library, then frame the square you want.
3. Under Style, pick a new look, or leave it on None to keep your photo as it is.
4. Tap the Model bar and choose a model. Classic is "For everyday stickers" and likes one short action. Premiere is "For your bigger ideas" and takes long, detailed prompts. Premiere Lite is a faster Premiere at a lower resolution.
5. Write your prompt in the Describe what happens box, or tap the mic and speak it. For Classic, keep it to one short action, or start from one of the app's Classic recipes, because those prompts are proven to work. For Premiere and Premiere Lite, add as much detail as you can, in the order it happens: the action, any scene change, when each thing happens inside the length you pick, how your face reacts, where the camera is, and last, the sound. An idea to try: a tiny marching band climbs out of your coffee cup and plays a song just for you.
6. Set the length with the slider and tap Generate Sticker.

Here is a Classic sticker we made from a photo of a woman sitting in a park:

Anime Tears

Prompt, Classic, 3 secondsmouth wide open, crying face, two huge cartoon tear jets spray out from the eyes nonstop

When your sticker is ready, tap iMessage on its page to send it as a GIF that plays in the chat, or tap WhatsApp to copy it and paste it into a chat. Dappi copies the sticker as an animated GIF, and in our tests since July 2026 it arrives in WhatsApp as an animated sticker. The WhatsApp guide has every step.

Dappi is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by WhatsApp LLC, Meta, or Apple. WhatsApp is a trademark of WhatsApp LLC.

Download Dappi on the App Store

Which photo works best for an AI sticker?

Pick the photo that fits your idea, and make it a sharp one, because blur in a photo gets worse when AI turns it into a video. Runway's prompting guide warns that blurry hands or faces may be intensified once an image becomes a video.

• For an animated sticker, the photo is the first frame, so choose one where you are already in a pose that suits the action, such as arms free for a dance or a cup in your hand for a coffee joke.
• For a Genmoji, Apple's guide says the person in the photo wins over the description, so if your words describe someone else, the result still looks like the person you picked.
• In the Dappi sticker app, the sticker starts from the exact square you frame, and the scene changes from there.

What a style does to your photo

A style redraws you in a whole new look, such as clay or pixel art, before the sticker is made. In Apple's Image Playground you tap Style and pick one, like Illustration, or describe the style you want, as its Image Playground guide explains, and you get a still image.

In the Dappi sticker app, the whole animated sticker plays out in the style you pick. Choose one that suits your idea, and the two work together:

• 1930s cartoon, with slapstick, like a piano falling on your head and you popping right back up.
• Felt & cardboard, for something cozy, like you knitting a scarf that keeps getting longer until it fills the room.
• Pixel art, for anything that feels like a game, like coins bursting out of your head every time you jump.
• Clay, for a slow, squishy idea, like your nose stretching out and bouncing back like a spring.

For anime and manga looks, and which one to pick for your idea, see the guide to turning a photo into an anime sticker.

Styles need credits or a monthly plan. On the free plan, a style tap tells you "Styles aren't on the free plan", so leave the style on None, or get credits or a monthly plan.

AI Pro: what it is and when to use it

AI Pro in Dappi first makes a new picture of you in a whole new scene, then animates it, for when you want control over every detail of your sticker.

With AI Sticker, your sticker always starts from the photo you added, and the scene changes from there. With AI Pro, it starts straight in a new world, and you see the first picture, and fix it if you want, before it is animated:

1. Tap the purple plus button and choose AI Pro at the top, then add your photo.
2. In the Write how the first frame looks box, describe the picture you want, like you sitting on a throne made of pancakes in the middle of a thunderstorm, and tap Generate Image. The app makes a new picture of you.
3. To change something in it, write the change and tap Edit picture, or tap New picture to make another one.
4. Tap Step 2: Animate, write what you want to happen in the video, like syrup starting to rain down and you opening your mouth to catch it, and tap Generate Sticker.

AI Pro needs credits or a monthly plan.

Can I start from a ready idea instead of writing a prompt?

Yes, Dappi has recipes: a recipe is a ready idea with the prompt and settings already filled in, and you make it with your own photo. You find the app's recipes on Home and in Explore.

Open a recipe, add your photo and generate your sticker, and the recipe fills in the rest. When you like how one of your own stickers came out, tap Save recipe on its page to keep the whole idea for next time.

Common problems with AI stickers from a photo

Most problems with AI stickers from a photo come from the device, the photo or the plan.

• If you cannot find Genmoji on the keyboard, your iPhone or your language may not support Apple Intelligence. Apple lists iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 models or later.
• If a ChatGPT set will not go to WhatsApp, make at least three stickers, the smallest set WhatsApp takes.
• If the face looks smeared in the animated sticker, start again from a sharper photo.
• If a popup says styles aren't on the free plan, leave the style on None, or get credits or a monthly plan.