Microsoft adds Animoji variant to Swiftkey for Android voor

Microsoft has added a feature to Swiftkey for Android where moving animal emojis try to portray users’ facial expressions. The feature is similar to Apple’s Animojis, but works differently.

The Swiftkey feature is called Puppets, Microsoft reports. It is currently in the beta version of Swiftkey for Android. Users can use the function by pressing the panda in the toolbar. The keyboard needs input from the front camera to function.

Puppets work on the basis of a neural network with images of facial expressions. As a result, the algorithm tries to guess the facial expression based on the camera image. That works differently from Apple’s Animojis. There, the software records the facial expressions in 3D with the infrared camera, and then uses that as input for the moving emojis. Meanwhile, similar functions are also in many skins of Android manufacturers. Samsung calls it AR Emoji, Huawei uses the name 3D Qmoji and Xiaomi refers to it as Mimoji.

It is known for the first time that such a function is incorporated in a keyboard. Microsoft already put its own search engine and translation software in the Android version of Swiftkey. Microsoft acquired Swiftkey three years ago.