Animoji Karaoke Trend Over? iPhone X Camera Makes Older iPhones Not Compatible

There have been numerous iPhone X Animoji demos since the device released Nov. 3. The feature has already sparked a karaoke trend, with users creating avatars to lipsync popular songs. Even rapper, Nicki Minaj has shared her Animoji karaoke rendition of “MotorSport” by Migos.

However, it remains to be seen whether the feature will maintain its novelty for iPhone X users, especially since it appears Animoji is not backwards compatible with older iPhones. Models including the iPhone 8, iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s lack the hardware components needed to enable Animoji. The iPhone 8 runs the A11 Bionic chip, which includes the neural engine that powers Apple’s new AI technology but does not feature the True Depth front camera seen on the iPhone X that allows for 3D facial mapping. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s are missing both of these features.

Outside of sharing Animoji on social media, iPhone X users can only use the feature in Apple’s Messages application with other iPhone X users. Without backward compatibility, Animoji could be at risk to come off as a gimmick, which may quickly be forgotten by users.

In addition to the aforementioned limitations, the Animoji API is also closed to third party developing, meaning those who tweak the Animoji code cannot share their projects on the Apple app store for other iOS users to download.

This has not stopped developers from experimenting. One developer, Simon B. Støvring has already toyed with the Apple’s private Animoji API, creating an app called SBSAnimoji that increases the recording time from 10 seconds to 60 seconds. However, users will need an Apple developers account and sideloading savvy to install the standalone application.

The intent of Animoji is clearly to increase the value proposition of the iPhone X, encouraging more Apple fans to buy the device to converse with their friends in Animoji. The fallback is, without availability across the entire Apple smartphone lineup, iPhone X users may find themselves at a loss when friends are unable to see or return their Animoji. They could quickly fall out of the practice of using the feature. While sharing the Animoji on various social media platforms, such as Facebook or WhatsApp is simple it remains a one-sided task, while most other media additions to text conversations, such as emojis and gifs are available to all parties in a dialog.

Animoji appears to be a hit during the first week of iPhone X availability, while the feature is still shiny and new. But what will happen three months from now when even other iPhone users tire of seeing Animoji while being unable to return their own sentiments? Animoji may not truly catch on until 2018 and beyond when Apple releases other devices that run the feature natively and there are more enabled handsets on the market.