I love my dog, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. She’s brown and white and loves to go on walks and I take every opportunity to show her to the world. And with the Live Stickers iPhone feature, I can turn photos of her into emoji and stickers, and then text them to everyone I know.

Apple introduced Live Stickers in iOS 17 as an evolution of the tap-and-lift feature from iOS 16, which lets you cut out subjects from photos and Live Photos. Now, by saving those cutouts as emoji and stickers of pets, family and friends, you can send endless cuteness to others.

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Here’s how to transform your photos into emoji and stickers to send in Messages and other apps.

How to make Live Stickers and emoji from pictures

1. Open your Photos app.
2. Tap the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker.
3. Tap and hold the item in the photo you want to turn into an emoji or sticker until you see the white outline.
4. Tap Add Sticker.

Your iPhone will then add the Live Sticker to your Stickers drawer and appear in your emoji keyboard. If you tap the new sticker, you’ll be given the options to Rearrange, Add Effect or Delete it. Tapping Add Effect will let you add an effect to your sticker, like a white outline, to make it look even more like a sticker. 

The next time you go into Messages, you can use your new sticker as an emoji by tapping the emoji keyboard in the bottom-left corner of your screen, tapping the folded-over circle and tapping the emoji you want to use.

According to Apple, you can use your new Live Sticker anywhere you can access emoji. I tried to use my Live Stickers on the messaging app Slack, but they wouldn’t appear in the app. I also couldn’t access my Live Stickers in some third-party apps, like TikTok, so you might run into some issues when using your Live Stickers outside of Apple apps and devices.

For more iOS news, here’s my review of iOS 26, how to enable call and text screening in the OS and all the new ringtones on your iPhone. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet

While there are plenty of amazing headphone options out there, only a few of them end up on our list of the best headphones.A great example of some of the best around are the excellent Beats Studio Pro headphones, but they come with a price tag to match.

Right now, you can pick yourself up the Beats Studio Pro headphones from Woot for just $100 if you use the code BEATS20 at checkout. These ones are factory reconditioned, which is basically another way of saying refurbished to a high standard, but the deal is only on until the end of the day, so you’ll need to be quick to get the discount.

In his review of the Beats Studio Pro headphones, CNET’s audio expert David Carnoy said that, «Overall, these are very good performing headphones that I’ve been happy to add to my headphone rotation.» He noted that the price was often the biggest sticking point, but when you’re getting them with such a hefty discount, it’s hard not to view that as a non-issue.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

There’s no doubt that this is one of the best headphone deals on right now, it’s just a shame it’s only on until the end of the day. Make sure you act on this as soon as possible to avoid missing out on it, and don’t forget to use the code BEATS20 to get the full amount off.

Why this deal matters

Beats Studio Pro headphones are literally some of the best headphones you can buy, but their price tag is hard for some people to swallow at $350. This is a rare chance to get them for far cheaper, and the factory reconditioned models are often nearly as good as new, too.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tricky one. Hope you know your NBA history! If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Help athletes learn.

Green group hint: Statistics.

Blue group hint: From Sin City.

Purple group hint: Not Queens, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Coach.

Green group: Seen in a baseball scorebug.

Blue group: UNLV

Purple group: Home cities of the NBA’s Kings franchise, over time.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is coach. The four answers are drill, instruct, school and teach.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is seen in a baseball scorebug. The four answers are count, inning, outs and score.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is UNLV.  The four answers are Las, Nevada, University and Vegas.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is home cities of the NBA’s Kings franchise, over time. The four answers are Cincinnati, Kansas City, Rochester and Sacramento.