Unable to add Emoji to Contact Photo after iOS 17 Update

This solution works -- but it is a bit more complicated than the way it sounds. It's a shortcut around what apple took away. So you do go in to the contact and hit edit. The contact will come up and you can click "add photo". When you do that - it gives you choices for your "poster". That is when you pick "monogram". That will take you to a screen where you can change the name or initials -- just ignore it and hit "done" in top right corner. That will then show you a preview of the "poster" (what you see when contact comes up). Hit continue. On the next screen -- you will get a choice to "choose a different photo" and that is where you get option to add emoji.

I had this problem too and found the fix! First assign the poster - just choose monogram, then you can choose the emoji for the contact photo

I have hated this change as well! Here is a tip, if you haven't updated your MacOS from Monterey (that is if you have a Mac). Change the contact photo to an emoji from there and it will display on your phone. This is how I have bypassed this huge blunder by Apple.

Hi WeddingWoman,

To clarify, you do not see the Emoji option in the list? If so, we'd recommend ensuring the Emoji keyboard is enabled under Settings  > General > Keyboard.

If you are still unable to use the Emoji keyboard in the Contacts app, we'd advise contacting Apple Support to take a closer look.

• Get Support

Cheers!

When I do that, I only get Memojis. or Letters. No emojis.. and yes I have the keyboard installed. I just want to have the contact "photo" be the small emoji like it used to be in iOS16. I don't want photos or posters or memoji on contacts that are for businesses etc. This is silly - why would @apple force Memojis on us?

All right, I figured it out, I think. You have to create a poster for the contact. It doesn't matter what you put on there after you create it you're able to change it and at that point, it allows you to put an emoji in. Why you have to go through 10 steps to do something that should be able to be done in one I don't know, but Apple every now and then thinks they know best.

I’m not seeing how this is working for you. I assigned the monogram as the poster and saved it, but when trying to edit the contact photo the only options shown are to use different letters or different colors. No emoji button available when typing different letters.

So I actually am able to get the emojis on my contact photos, however they match the color of the name, so if I have Babe in pink with the heart eyes emoji and any other emoji, the emojis are also in pink. Anybody else experiencing this or know a work around?

I'm having the same problem and was finally able to find the emoji I wanted but it's HUGE - not the neat little image in a circle like my other contacts. I can't add it as a photo either because the photo also becomes HUGE and takes up the entire screen on the contact. This is sloppy and unnecessary! I want my neat contact list not a GIANT emoji every time I open a contact!! WTH???

None of the above description achieves what I - and most likely the original poster - want: an emoji as the main thing comming up for the contact.

It does not help me to see an image or monogram and just have the emoji as the tiny bubble or contact photo.

For things like my electrician, plumber, garage etc it is so much better to see an emoji that conveys what they do. So many of my contacts have the same first name. I will not take a picture of the guy behind the desk or installing sockets in my house. I do not have this personal connection and just seeing monograms when many of them have the same first name is prone to have me call the wrong contact.

I know, that you want things to be beautiful and personal, but that simply gets in the way of practical. And having to go through six steps just to see the emoji option plus it then not even working as hoped is frustrating. You could have added the new options but kept what was there.