Question :

I just upgraded to a new iPhone that should be able to do animoji, but when I start up iMessage and click on the ‘new message’ icon to start a new conversation, the AppStore-icon stays greyed-out, and when I click it the toolbar with the Monkey-button (the animoji-button) doesn’t appear…

How can I activate animoji in iMessage ?

Answer :

You might encounter this problem especially if you just upgraded from an older iPhone to a new iPhone X, XS or XR.

To solve this problem, do this :

• on your iPhone, open the Settings app
• then go to Messages
• make sure that ‘Send as SMS’ is switched OFF
• then swipe-up to exit the Settings app
• open the iMessage app
• click on the ‘new message’ -icon (top right ; the pen&paper-icon)
• type any addressee in the ‘To:’-field
• now the extra toolbar with the Monkey-button (animoji-button) will appear
• clear the ‘To:’-field so you won’t accidentally send a message to someone
• swipe-up to exit the iMessage app
• open the Settings app
• go to Messages
• switch ‘Send as SMS’ back ON if you want
• exit the Settings app
• …and from now on, you will have the animoji available in iMessage

that’s it !

enjoy 😉