Google Phone’s New Audio Emojis for Android Include a Fart Button

Coming soon to an Android phone call near you: a fart button.

As first reported 9to5Google, Android users on the beta update channel are noticing a new menu in calls made with the Google Phone app. Dubbed “Audio Emoji,” this surprise new feature gives callers a soundboard with six different sound effects, which both parties can hear.

These include clapping, laughing, celebrating, a sad trombone, a “ba dum tss” and, for some reason, farting. Really, the only thing that’s “emoji” about them is that the buttons to play the sounds are emojis.

The audio emojis also include short graphics to accompany the sound effects, including a particularly nasty animation of a “chocolate ice cream cone” crashing to the ground while surrounded by flies. You can guess which emoji this effect goes to. At the very least, it appears that these animations are reserved for the sender, although they can 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 didn’t have access to it on my Pixel 8 Pro and Google hasn’t even officially announced it yet.

If you find yourself struggling with the Audio Emoji menu and would rather not see little cartoon turds in your phone calls, you can turn off the menu via an “X” in its upper right corner. However, it’s unclear if this stops your friends from sending you sound effects.

Either way, there’s a cooldown between emojis, so at least you won’t have to worry about your interlocutor sending you a fart in a sad trombone in a ba dum tss combo.

Google’s largest hardware and software showcase for 2024, Google I/O, it’s only two weeks away. Hopefully the tech giant has something a little more impressive to show off on May 14.