Frequently Asked Questions About Emojis
Answers to the most common questions about emojis — their meanings, how to type them on every platform, how Unicode works, accessibility, licensing, and the weird edge cases.
Emoji Basics
What emojis actually are, where they came from, and why they are everywhere.
- What is an emoji?
- Where did emojis come from?
- What's the difference between an emoji and an emoticon?
- How many emojis are there?
- Who decides which new emojis are added?
- What is Unicode?
- How is an emoji different from a sticker?
- Why do emojis look different on different platforms?
- Are emojis free to use?
- Are emojis a language?
- What is the most-used emoji in the world?
- When is World Emoji Day?
Emojis Across Platforms
How emojis render and behave on Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Meta, Twitter/X, and every other major platform.
- Which platforms ship their own emoji designs?
- Why can the same emoji mean different things on different platforms?
- How often do platforms update their emoji designs?
- What is Apple's emoji font called?
- What is Google's emoji font called?
- What is Microsoft's emoji font called?
- Who made Twemoji?
- Which emoji set does WhatsApp use?
- Why do Samsung emojis look different from Google's on the same Android phone?
- How does my web browser pick which emoji font to use?
- Are there platforms that still have custom non-Unicode emojis?
- Will all platforms eventually converge on the same design?
Emoji Meanings
What popular emojis actually mean — including the ones with unexpected second meanings.
- What does the 🍑 peach emoji really mean?
- What does the 🍆 eggplant emoji mean?
- What does the 🔥 fire emoji mean?
- What does the 💀 skull emoji mean?
- What does the 😭 loudly-crying-face emoji mean?
- What's the difference between ❤️ red heart and 🩷 pink heart?
- What does the ✨ sparkles emoji mean?
- What does the 💯 hundred-points emoji mean?
- What does the 🙃 upside-down face mean?
- What does the 🤔 thinking-face emoji mean?
- What does the 😏 smirking face mean?
- Is the 🙏 emoji praying hands or a high-five?
- Why did the 👌 OK-hand emoji become controversial?
How to Type Emojis
Keyboard shortcuts, emoji pickers and input tricks on every operating system and device.
- How do I type emojis on an iPhone?
- How do I type emojis on Android?
- How do I type emojis on Windows?
- How do I type emojis on a Mac?
- How do I type emojis on Linux?
- Can I just copy and paste an emoji?
- Is there a keyboard shortcut to type a specific emoji?
- How do I type emojis in Slack / Discord / Teams?
- Can I search for an emoji by name on my phone?
- What are emoji shortcodes?
Emoji Accessibility
How screen readers, color-blind users and assistive tech experience emojis.
Emojis in Business & Law
Copyright, licensing, contracts, and using emojis in professional settings.
Emojis for Developers
Unicode code points, HTML entities, CSS, JavaScript, and the technical side of emoji.
- How do I write an emoji in HTML?
- What is an emoji's Unicode code point?
- What is a ZWJ emoji sequence?
- How do emoji skin-tone modifiers work?
- Can I use an emoji in CSS?
- How do I use an emoji in JavaScript?
- How do I use an emoji in Python?
- Can I put emojis in JSON?
- Can I put an emoji in a URL?
- How do I match an emoji with regex?
- How many bytes is an emoji?
Unicode & Emoji Spec
How Unicode classifies, versions and standardizes emojis.
Fun & Misc
Everything else you ever wondered about emojis.