If you have used Discord, then you may know about a feature called Soundboard that lets you play a snippet of audio during Discord voice calls. It helps to lighten the mood of the session and is generally fun to spam it now and then. Well, Google is bringing something similar to their Phone app with the Audio Emoji feature.
Audio Emoji lets you choose between six pre-selected sound snippets corresponding to their emoji icons. These include clap, laughter, party, sad, poop, and drumroll. When you select any one of these, a sound will play along with an animation that you and the person on the other side of the call would be able to hear even if the call is on speakerphone. In this post, we’ll explain how you can enable and use Audio Emoji on the Phone by Google app.
How to Enable Audio Emoji in the Phone App
- Open the Phone app and tap on the 3-dots icon in the top right corner.
- Then tap on Settings, from the drop-down menu.
- Within settings, go to the newly added Audio Emoji option.
- Turn on the toggle to enable Audio Emoji for your device.
How to Use Audio Emojis During a Phone Call
Audio Emojis only work during a call when a person has picked up the call. To use them, just tap on the Audio Emoji option and select the emoji you want to play.
You will hear the sound accompanied by the animations that play every time you use it. The person on the other side will be able to listen to it no matter if they have this feature enabled or not. You also cannot add more emoji effects as of now.
The feature is currently rolling out for users enrolled in the beta program for the Phone by Google app in the Play Store. However, even after having the beta update, we had to connect to the USA using a VPN to get this feature.
While interesting to say the least, I still scratch my head thinking about why Google added this feature in the phone app. It makes sense for Discord because it is a casual place for fun conversations, but you wouldn’t want to mistakenly play a “poop” sound effect during a business call. It would have made more sense if it were available for Google Meet calls or Google Messages RCS calls. But what are your thoughts about this feature? Have you received it? Tell us in the comments below.
