Sometimes, a text exchange with a friend calls for a super specific image to express a thought. It’s the kind of image that you can’t find in the legion of emoji on your phone, or hiding in your photo library — an angry avocado, or a picture of you and that friend on the moon when you’ve never even been out of the city together. The human experience is complex.

In times like these, you might turn to an AI image generator to meet your needs. For those in the Apple ecosystem, one option is firing up the Image Playground app as a quick way of creating an image that can be customized, saved and even used as a Genmoji in the future. (Genmoji are personalized emoji you can make using Apple Intelligence.)

If you haven’t used the app, odds are it’s already your phone. Here’s a rundown of what Apple’s Image Playground is and how to use it.

Apple initially launched Image Playground in December 2024. The app uses Apple Intelligence to generate images on your device that you can save, share or turn into Genmoji. Image Playground is integrated into several Apple apps, like Messages, Keynote and Freeform, so you don’t have to stop what you’re doing and open another app separately.

To use Image Playground, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, or an iPhone 16 or later with Apple Intelligence turned on. You can also use it on iPads with an M1 chip or later, or the iPad Mini (A17 Pro), as well as Macs with at least an M1 chip.

The latest version of Image Playground, available with iOS 27, brings a few updates to the app. Perhaps the most notable is that you can now describe what visual style you’re looking for with natural language. Earlier versions of the app let you select a few specific (like illustration), but the new “Any Style” option lets you specify “virtually” any visual approach. Other updates include modifying what you’ve already created with touch and natural language. So, if you ask for an image of a cabin, you can use your finger to select the door, and prompt Playground to change it to red, or even move the selection around. The update also introduces the ability to make Contact Posters and wallpapers for your Lock Screen.

When you open the app, there are several ways you can go about creating an image. If you’re starting from scratch, you can use the prompt box to describe what you want to make. There’s also a menu you can expand featuring styles, like animation and sketch. If you select Genmoji from that list, you’ll be able to save your creation along with any other stickers you have, and use it as you would an emoji. 

There are other ways to start images, too, beyond entering a natural language prompt. Near the prompt box, you can tap the figure of a person, and select a face from one of your photos. For example, if you pick yourself, you can change which photo you want to use as the reference image, and prompt Playground to maybe show you as an astronaut. Below the image, you can enter additional prompts to make changes or use the touch feature to tweak the image.

Similarly, next to the icon of the person, there’s a button that lets you use a photo you’ve taken as the basis for the image. When you’re happy with you hath wrought, you can tap the Share button and unleash it on your friends and loved ones.