I’m generally an Apple guy, but even I can admit that Android’s “blobs” were the ultimate emoji. They are beautiful, they are funny, they are unique, and they were unfairly retired in 2017 in motion to make Androids emojis looks more like everyone else. It’s a damn shame, but it’s not a shame you have to live with anymore. If you have an Android phone, you can bring back blob emojis right now
To get started, you will need Gboard installed on your phone. Of course, if you have a Pixel, you already have Gboard. Next, go to Gboard Settings, then Emojis, stickers and GIFs and enable Emoji Stickers. Once that’s set, there are a few ways to bring the spots back to life.
The first drew my attention this r/Google Reddit postand uses Gboard’s emoji combination tool to come alive the icons we know and love. For the uninitiated, the emoji combiner is an automatic feature that combines two emoji together to create a new one that normally doesn’t exist. You can type a smiley face and a cry face together to create a new smiley cry face, or an angry face with the lying face to create an angry, angry face. Fun stuff!
But, unbeknownst to many, if you combine an emoji with the stars (✨), Google will not combine the two. Instead, it will predict you with the blob version of the emoji you just typed, along with more recommended blobs to select on the right. All you have to do is open the emoji keyboard, then type your emoji followed by the stars. It will not work with each one emoji, but you should have plenty of spots to choose from.
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Blob emojis also exist as stickers
The star method isn’t the only way to use blobs in your chats. Android Authority showed this alternative method: Open the emoji keyboard, tap the stickers at the bottom, then tap the (+) search for new stickers. Scroll down a bit, and you should see “The Blobs Live On” and “Long Live the Blob.” Tap “Add” on both.
Now, whenever you want, you can tap either sticker to choose from a bunch of animated blobs. You can send a dramatic eye roll, a mischievous devil, a festive turtle, anything that suits your current mood.
