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Coming soon to an Android phone near you: the fart button.
As I mentioned for the first time before 9to5GoogleIn the beta update channel, Android users are noticing a new menu in calls made using the Google Phone app. This surprising new feature, called “Audio Emoji,” provides callers with a soundboard containing six different sound effects, which both parties of the call can hear.
These include applause, laughter, celebrations, sad trombones, “ba dum tss” and, for some reason, farting. In fact, the only thing special about these emojis is that the buttons to play the sounds are emojis.
The audio emojis also include short graphics to go along with the sound effects, including a particularly obnoxious animation of a “chocolate ice cream cone” squishing on the ground while surrounded by flies. You can guess which emoji goes with this effect. At the very least, it looks as if these animations are intended for the sender, although they may be played for the recipient if audio emojis are also enabled.
These questions will need to be answered over time, as the feature is slowly rolling out, I wasn't able to access it on the Pixel 8 Pro, and Google hasn't officially announced it yet.
If you find yourself overwhelmed by the Audio Emoji menu and would rather not see a little cardboard tube on your phone calls, you can disable the menu via the “X” in the upper right corner. It's unclear if this prevents friends from sending you sound effects.
Anyway, there's a cooldown between emojis, so at least you won't have to worry about your call partner spamming you with a sad trombone fart in a ba dum tss combo.
Google's largest hardware and software exhibition of 2024, Google I/O, just two weeks away. Hopefully the tech giant will have something more impressive to show off on May 14.
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