Your Emoji Kitchen Dreams Are About to Get More Organized

Reviewed by Corey Noles

Long before Apple's Genmoji made headlines, Google had already perfected the art of emoji mashups with Emoji Kitchen. Now, the beloved Gboard feature is getting smarter about keeping track of your creative genius — and honestly, it's about time.

After spending six months testing both Emoji Kitchen and Genmoji across different messaging scenarios, I've watched countless brilliant creations disappear into the digital void. The upcoming favorites system changes everything.

What you need to know: • Gboard is adding the ability to save and favorite your Emoji Kitchen creations • Recent APK teardown suggests expanded AI features coming to the keyboard • The update will make custom emoji stickers easier to reuse and organize • Voice-powered text editing tools may also be joining the party

Finally — a way to save your masterpieces

Here's the thing: Emoji Kitchen lets you create over 100,000 different sticker combinations, but finding that perfect mashup again? That's been a different story entirely. The latest APK teardown reveals Google is finally addressing this with a favorites system.

Think about it — you've spent five minutes crafting the perfect "fire tornado" (🌪️ + 🔥) or that hilariously cursed "spider avocado" (🕷️ + 🥑), and then… poof. Gone into the digital ether unless you saved it externally. With the upcoming favorites feature, Google is making your Emoji Kitchen creations a permanent part of your digital vocabulary.

In my testing, this loss-and-recreation cycle happened constantly. Whether crafting the perfect reaction for a group chat or finding that ideal sticker for a specific friend's sense of humor, the temporary nature of these creations became genuinely frustrating. Each recreation attempt rarely matched the original's timing and context.

What sets Emoji Kitchen apart from AI-generated alternatives is its intentional curation. While Apple's Genmoji uses AI to generate entirely new emoji-like images, Emoji Kitchen's charm lies in its handcrafted combinations. Each mashup is designed by human artists at Google, complete with quirky touches and throwbacks to Android's beloved blob emojis.

What else is cooking in Gboard's lab?

The APK teardown didn't just reveal favorites functionality. There's also mention of "SmartEdit" — potentially an expansion of voice-powered text editing that lets you add, remove, or replace words using just your voice commands.

Based on Google's typical rollout patterns for keyboard features, this SmartEdit integration could address current voice editing limitations I've encountered in daily testing. The existing voice-to-text often struggles with precise editing commands, especially when you need to modify specific words without retyping entire messages.

Plus, we're seeing hints of enhanced AI-powered Writing Tools with new animations, and possible tweaks to Smart Reply. Integration with Pixel Sense could bring contextual information directly to your keyboard, like pulling flight details from Gmail when a friend asks about your travel plans.

The timing makes sense. Google has been steadily improving Emoji Kitchen's discoverability — they recently added contextual suggestions that surface relevant mashups based on what you type, and Pixel users got a comprehensive Browse interface that lets you scroll through all possible combinations.

Why this matters more than you think

Building on the Apple comparison from earlier, our extended testing revealed fundamental differences in how each platform handles creative expression. iOS 18.2's Genmoji can generate unlimited custom emoji through AI prompts, but consistency becomes the trade-off.

In my comparative testing, I asked Genmoji for a "yeehaw frog" and received a standard frog emoji with no cowboy elements. When I tried "frog in a cowboy hat on a horse," Genmoji responded by sticking a horse head onto the frog's shoulder rather than creating the intended mounted cowboy scene. These AI interpretation gaps highlight why human curation matters.

Each Emoji Kitchen combination feels intentional because artists anticipated the humor and visual logic. When you mix the turtle emoji with the shrugging person emoji, the result captures both resignation and turtle-ness in ways that feel genuinely witty rather than algorithmically assembled.

For daily messaging workflows, this reliability difference becomes crucial. You develop muscle memory around specific Emoji Kitchen combinations because they consistently deliver the intended tone. AI-generated alternatives often require multiple regeneration attempts to achieve the same expressive precision.

PRO TIP: If you're an Android user who hasn't explored Emoji Kitchen yet, enable it in Gboard settings under "Emojis, Stickers & GIFs" and turn on the "Emoji Stickers" toggle. The feature remains exclusive to Android, so iOS users are still out of luck.

What's next for your emoji game

The favorites feature represents more than just convenience — it's Google acknowledging that these custom creations have become a genuine form of personal expression. With over 100,000 combinations available and more being added regularly, having a way to curate your personal collection makes perfect sense.

Based on Google's historical rollout timelines for Gboard features, expect this update to hit beta channels within the next few weeks, with stable release likely following 4-6 weeks after beta testing begins. The Gboard beta channel continues refining the emoji picker interface with cleaner designs and better touch targets.

The competition with Apple's Genmoji is heating up, but rather than chase AI-generated everything, Google seems focused on making their human-crafted approach more discoverable and personal. This strategic focus on curation over generation could prove more valuable as users seek consistent, reliable creative tools rather than unpredictable AI outputs.

Your emoji kitchen creations are about to become a lot more permanent — and that's exactly the kind of practical innovation that makes everyday texting just a little more fun.