How to Edit Memoji | Tweak Every Feature In Minutes

Editing a Memoji on iPhone or iPad is done through the Messages app by tapping the Memoji, selecting the More icon, and choosing Edit to adjust skin tone, hairstyle, facial features, and accessories.

Your Memoji is supposed to look like you, or at least like the version of you that wears a space helmet and neon lipstick. But tastes change, hairstyles change, and sometimes you realize that nose shape was never quite right. The good news is Apple lets you tweak virtually every feature after creation, and the process takes less than 30 seconds once you know which button to press.

Below is every edit path, the one setting people miss, and exactly how to handle a stuck accessory that refuses to disappear.

Where To Find The Edit Button For Your Memoji

The edit button lives inside the Messages app’s sticker picker, not in Settings or anywhere system-wide. Open a conversation in Messages, tap the Add (+) button (or the monkey/Animoji icon) next to the text input, then swipe up or tap More and select Memoji. Swipe to the character you want to change. The More (three-dot) icon at the bottom-left is your gateway — tap it, then tap Edit.

Once you’re in the editor, every category from Skin to Headwear appears as a tappable row. Tap one to scroll through options, use sliders or the color wheel for exact shades, and tap Done in the top-right corner when you’re finished. The updated Memoji instantly replaces the old one in your sticker collection across all apps.

What You Can Change: The Complete Feature List

The Memoji editor offers roughly a dozen categories, each with dozens of options. The table below maps what most people want to tweak and where to find it.

Color options for hair, eyes, and lips use a full slider, not just preset swatches. That lets you match a specific dye job or natural shade that the defaults don’t cover.

How To Edit A Memoji On Apple Watch

The Apple Watch (Series 4 and later) can display Memoji as stickers and watch faces, but the editing experience is limited. You can change the expression and some facial features by tapping them and turning the Digital Crown to scroll through variations, but full customization — new hairstyle, headwear, skin tone — still needs to happen on the paired iPhone or iPad. The watch pulls from your existing Memoji collection; it doesn’t create new ones from scratch.

Can You Edit Memoji In FaceTime?

No. During a FaceTime call you can select a Memoji to mask your face, but tapping it opens the selection screen, not the editor. If you want to change the Memoji used during a call, you must edit it in Messages first, then pick the updated version from the FaceTime icon grid. It’s an extra step, but once the Memoji is saved, FaceTime will reflect the change.

Why The “Edit” Button Might Be Missing

The most common reason for a missing Edit button is an old iOS version. Memoji editing requires iOS 12.1 or later, and the edit controls were refined significantly in iOS 13. If you’re on an older OS version, go to Settings > General > Software Update and install the latest available version. The second possibility is that you’re looking inside the wrong app — the edit button only appears inside Messages, not in FaceTime, Settings, or the sticker drawer on the keyboard.

How To Remove A Stuck Glove, Helmet, Or Accessory

This is the issue that sends people to forums. A pair of gloves, a scarf, or a helmet appears to be permanently attached, and no obvious “remove” button exists in the editor.

The trick is that some headwear and eyewear items carry attached hand or neck pieces. That winter hat with the ear flaps? It might include matching gloves. Those swim goggles? They might add a swim cap. To remove them:

1. Enter the Memoji editor as usual (Messages > Memoji > three-dot > Edit).
2. Tap Headwear and scroll to the item you’re currently wearing. Look for an empty or “None” selectable slot at the start of the list.
3. If the accessory came from the Eyewear category (those goggles), check there instead.
4. If the glove or item is truly baked into the base character style — which is rare but happens with some pre-set designs — you cannot remove it by editing. You must duplicate the Memoji, start from a different base style, rebuild the features, and delete the stuck version.

How To Delete A Memoji Entirely

If you’d rather scrap a Memoji and start fresh, open the Memoji picker in Messages, swipe to the character you want to remove, tap the More (three-dot) icon, then tap Delete. Confirm the deletion. This cannot be undone, so duplicate the Memoji first if there’s a feature you want to preserve in a new version.

Can You Edit Memoji On A Non-Apple Device?

No. Memoji is tied to the TrueDepth camera hardware required for creation and editing. That infrared sensor array is only on the iPhone X and later (including the iPhone SE 3rd gen) and iPad Pro models from 2018 onward. Android and Windows devices cannot create, edit, or even view Memoji animations reliably — they’ll see a static image at best. If you switch to a non-Apple device, your Memoji stays tied to your iCloud account but can’t be modified on the new device.

Checklist: Edit Your Memoji In Under A Minute

When you’re ready to make a change, this is the entire workflow:

1. Open Messages and tap into any conversation.
2. Tap the Add (+) or monkey icon, then Memoji.
3. Swipe to the Memoji you want to edit.
4. Tap the three-dot (More) icon, then Edit.
5. Tap any category row and scroll through options. Adjust colors with the slider.
6. Tap Done in the top-right corner. The Memoji updates everywhere instantly.

After tapping Done, your Memoji appears as a sticker option in Messages, Mail, FaceTime, and third-party apps that support Apple’s sticker picker. No restart or additional sync required.