Neurotic Stix Help
Here is some questionably helpful information about using Neurotic Stix Pro.
- Demo (YouTube Video)
- How to Create Stix
- How to Add Ready-Made Stix
- How to Use Stix in Messages
- How to Share Stix (on Social Media, Email, Etc.)
- How to Edit Stix
- How to Add Daily Stix from the Community
- How to Use the Widgets
- How to Mark a Favorite
- Troubleshooting
- Privacy & Terms
- Contact
Demo
How to Create Stix
You can either create your custom stix from the app, or from within Messages. Either method will add custom stix to your library.
Create Stix From the App
From the Neurotic Stix Pro app, select the “Custom Stix” tab and pick a custom stix template.
You can now add your caption. Some stix also allow you to make a few customizations (like changing the frowny face to a smile or adding some hair).
Tap “Done” when you’re done.
Create Stix From Messages
You can also create custom stix directly from the Messages app. Select the Neurotic Stix pro sticker pack, scroll to the bottom of your library, and tap “Create Your Own Stix”. (If you don’t know how to access the sticker pack, see How to Use Stix in Messages.)
Then you’ll see the same interface for creating custom stix as you would from within the app.
How to Add Ready-Made Stix
For lazy folks, I’ve created over 30 “ready-made” stix that you can use without requiring any creativity on your part whatsoever. Just tap on your favorite ready-made stix and they’ll get added to your library… Pretty cool, I guess…
From the app, tap the “Ready-Made Stix” tab and tap on the stix you want to add to your library.
You can also add ready-made stix directly from the Messages app. Select the Neurotic Stix pro sticker pack, scroll to the bottom of your library, and tap “Add Ready-Made Stix”. (If you don’t know how to access the sticker pack, see How to Use Stix in Messages.)
Then you’ll see the same interface for adding ready-made stix as you would from within the app.
Hope you like my ready-made creations, which are filled with all of my low-self-esteem love.
How to Use Stix in Messages
It’s easy to create and share stix using the sticker pack from within the Messages app. First, launch Messages.
From within a conversation, select the plus button near the Messages text field.
Select “Stickers”.
Tap the Neurotic Stix Pro icon, and then select the sticker from your library.
At the bottom of your library, you’ll see buttons that allow you to create or add stickers directly from within Messages.
NOTE: The stix you create with the app and the stix you create with the sticker pack are part of the same library and you can access them from either spot.
How to Share Stix
You can share the stix in many different ways (beyond just from within Messages). For instance, you can post your creations on Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, or in an email. Start by tapping the stix from the “My Stix” tab inside the Neurotic Stix Pro app:
You have a few choices for how you can share the stix.
You can share it from the Messages app or share it anywhere as a PNG or an animated GIF. (Keep in mind when sharing a GIF that some social media sites don’t animate GIFs when you upload them. They’ll still show the image—they just won’t animate.) You can even send it as a link to another Neurotic Stix user so they can add it to their Neurotic Stix library just by clicking a link.
If you share the sticker as a PNG or a GIF, the “share sheet” appears.
This screen looks different depending on what apps you have installed, but in general, the first section (1) is the “quick-share panel” and has some quick ways to share the sticker based on your recent activity.
The second section (2) contains other apps you can send this sticker to.
This is where you’ll see your social media apps, email, and a bunch of other things. This is a great way to create a post on Facebook, Instagram, or to create a new email.
This row (2) is configurable so if you don’t see what you want, scroll all the way to the right and configure it manually.
NOTE: The stuff in the second row typically only allows you to create a new thing (like a new comment or post or email), and doesn’t let you reply to a thing. If you want to reply to an existing comment or email, continue reading (about “Copy” and “Save Image”)…
The bottom section (3) contains a bunch of other useful actions.
For instance, you can select “Copy” to copy the stix to the clipboard or use “Save Image” to get the stix into your photo library.
Copy
Use “Copy” in order to “Paste” the sticker as a reply to an existing comment thread on Facebook or Instagram. Tap inside a text field (that accepts images) and a popup menu with “Paste” appears. (If the menu doesn’t appear, try tapping in the text field a second time.)
Save Image
Use “Save Image” to save the image to your photo library. Now you can get to the stix just like how you’d access any of your other photos.
How to Edit Stix
If you want to edit any of your existing stix, go to the “My Stix” tab and tap the “Edit” button at the top-right corner.
From here you can edit your stix library.
If you tap on a stix, the “Share & Edit” window appears. Scroll to the bottom and select an editing option.
- To change the stix contents (like the text), select “Edit Stix Contents”.
- To change the stix template that you’ve chosen, select “Change Stix Type”.
- To move the stix to a different location, select “Move to Top” or “Move to Bottom”.
- To delete a stix, select “Remove from Library”.
NOTE: You can’t change the stix contents or the stix type for ready-made stix. These options are only available for custom stix.
How to Add Daily Stix from the Community
Every day, you can see three questionable daily stix from the community in the new “Daily Stix” tab.
One stix is for the “optimist”, one is for the “pessimist”, and one is just “weird”. (But don’t take these categories too seriously, they just roughly give you the gist of their tone.) Anyway, you can add any of them to your library by tapping on it.
How to Use the Widgets
To add a widget, tap and hold anywhere on the screen for a few seconds. When the apps start jiggling, tap the plus icon at the top of the screen.
Select Neurotic Stix from the list of widgets.
You can pick from various widget types:
- Random Stix: Randomly pick a stix from your library. You can configure this widget to change hourly, daily, or several times a day.
- Community Stix: Displays a stix shared by the developer of this app. You can configure the mood of this widget: optimist, pessimist, weird, or random. Changes daily. Once placed on your home screen, tap the widget to have the option to add the stix-of-the-day to your library! [Pro users only]
- Stix with Date: Shows the current date on a stix. You can configure which stix shows the date.
- Favorite Stix: Shows your favorite stix in your library. You can configure it to show a random favorite, a specific favorite, your first (aka newest) stix, or your last stix.
- Big Dumb Clock: Shows the current time (or the current date) with big hand-drawn numbers. Not that amazing, but could be useful with iOS’s new StandBy feature.
Place your preferred widget wherever you want on your home screen. Can’t decide which widget to use? Use more than one!
You’ll see a refresh button at the bottom of any widget that can change from day-to-day. Just tap that button to force the widget to refresh.
Configuring a Widget
If you want to configure a specific widget, tap and hold that widget, and then select “Edit Widget”.
From here, you can configure the widget. Each widget type has a slightly different configuration screen, but the settings should be pretty straightforward.
You can also configure some global widget settings from within the settings of the Neurotic Stix Pro app. For instance, you can change the widget background color.
PRO TIP When Using the Favorite Widget
The Favorite Widget allows you to show your favorite stix. By default, it randomly shows a different favorite stix each day (if you have more than one). However, when you edit the widget, you can use the “Fav Hint” field to specifically choose any one of the stix that you’ve marked as a favorite.
Once you select a specific favorite, that widget always shows that favorite. Even if you unfavorite or delete the stix in your library, that widget continues to show the same stix until you re-edit the widget and change the “Fav Hint” field. This lets you program widgets in specific spots in specific ways. For instance, I have one home page dedicated just to creative apps, and I have a “Create!” stix (in a Favorite Widget) displayed on that page. Once I programmed this widget, I deleted the stix from my library…
How to Mark a Favorite
Your favorite stix can display on your widget if you’ve added a Favorite Widget to your home screen.
To select a favorite, go to the Neurotic Stix Pro app and tap on any of the stix in your library. When the “Share & Edit” menu appears, scroll to the bottom, and select “Favorite”.
You’ll know which stix are your favorites because they’ll have a heart at the bottom right.
To unfavorite a stix (not that you’d ever want to do that to your precious stix), tap the stix again and select “Unfavorite”.
(BTW, check out the pro tip for how to customize the favorite widget.)
Troubleshooting
Messages sticker pack shows a blank screen!
In some cases, just after you update the app from the App Store, the Neurotic Stix Pro sticker pack shows a blank screen in Messages.
This is a bug with Apple’s Messages app and I’ve filed a bug with Apple on this issue (FB7568682, FB12048690). Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround. You have to force close the Messages app.
When you relaunch Messages, the Neurotic Stix Pro sticker pack is happy again and all your precious neurotic stickers are back. This behavior only occurs after an app update and only needs to be corrected one time.
My widget went blank!
Your widget may turn blank if there’s been a major app update that has affected the widget configuration.
Oftentimes, restarting your device fixes the problem.
If that doesn’t work, remove the widget and add it back to the home screen.
Need help removing a widget? Check out these instructions from How-To Geek: How to Add and Remove Widgets from the Home Screen on iPhone.
Contact
If you actually want to contact the neurotic developer, use this half-baked form, or send him a message on Mastodon or Threads.
