Apple has shared an ad on its main YouTube channel this morning to promote the iPhone X's Animoji feature ahead of Monday's WWDC keynote, which starts at 10.00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Titled "Animoji: Taxi Driver", the one-minute short features three Animoji faces singing along to the track "Citizen Kane" by Korean band HYUKOH.


Bear Face Animoji takes the lead role in the lip synced song, with backing vocals provided by Chicken and Dragon Face, as the disembodied trio travel through a neon-soaked Hong Kong cityscape.

The ad was originally uploaded to Apple's Korean YouTube channel on May 21, but the fact that Apple has chosen to share the video over its international YouTube channel just before WWDC kicks off clearly anticipates one of the new features in iOS 12 that is expected to be previewed at today's keynote.

Apple is said to be planning additional updates to Animoji in iOS 12, with rumors suggesting Apple will add more new characters. Apple is also said to be planning an overhauled Animoji interface and Animoji integration in FaceTime, which would allow users to use Animoji characters during FaceTime calls, perhaps in a karaoke context.

Apple has pulled some features from iOS 12 to focus more attention on performance improvements, bug fixes, and quality, but other features are still expected to debut in iOS 12, and could include multi-person support for AR games, improvements to Do Not Disturb, and more.

MacRumors will be in attendance at the keynote, with live coverage of the event beginning shortly after 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Stay tuned to MacRumors.com and our @MacRumorsLive account on Twitter. We've also put together a short guide explaining all the ways you can watch Apple's WWDC18 Keynote live on your devices.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

autrefois Avatar
96 months ago
Spoiler alert: Tim Cook will not take the stage. His presentation will be done entirely from a remote location via Animoji.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scotty321 Avatar
96 months ago
This is so embarrassing for Apple on soooo many different levels. They really need to stop doing things like this.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
flyinmac Avatar
96 months ago
I guess this tells us what to expect as “major” features and improvements.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jsmith189 Avatar
96 months ago
Incoming posts about how Apple is wasting time on useless things like Animoji when their whole OS is broken, like every single Apple employee works exclusively on these projects.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lone Deranger Avatar
96 months ago
Fact: Everytime Apple releases a new Ani/Emoji, somewhere in the world a Mac Pro dies.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redbeard331 Avatar
96 months ago
Wtf is that? If all we get is stupid new Animoji and some big fixes I’m gonna be pissed.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...