Search over 500 emojis by name or keyword, click to copy, and get Unicode code points, HTML entities, and shortcodes. Browse by category, pick skin tones, and keep track of your recently used emojis. Everything runs in your browser with zero signups.
Last updated: March 2026Emojis are small pictographic symbols used in digital text to convey emotions, objects, concepts, and ideas. They originated in Japanese mobile phone culture in the late 1990s when engineer Shigetaka Kurita designed a set of 176 symbols for the NTT DoCoMo i-mode platform. The word "emoji" comes from the Japanese "e" (picture) and "moji" (character). Unlike emoticons, which are typed from standard keyboard characters like :-), emojis are actual graphical characters defined in the Unicode standard.
The Unicode Consortium maintains the official emoji list, adding new symbols with each annual release. As of Unicode 15.1, there are over 3,600 defined emojis when you include skin tone and gender variations. Every major operating system, browser, and messaging app renders these Unicode code points with its own visual style, which is why the same emoji can look slightly different on an iPhone versus an Android device or in a Slack message versus a tweet.
Each emoji is assigned a unique code point (or sequence of code points) in the Unicode standard. For example, the grinning face is U+1F600. When you type or paste this character, your device looks up the code point and renders the corresponding glyph from its emoji font. Some emojis use Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequences to combine multiple code points into a single visual character. The family emoji, for instance, joins individual person emojis with ZWJ characters.
Skin tone modifiers work through a similar mechanism. The five Fitzpatrick skin tone modifiers (U+1F3FB through U+1F3FF) can follow any human emoji to change its default yellow appearance. Not all emojis support skin tones; only those depicting human body parts or people accept these modifiers. If a platform does not support a particular modifier, it typically falls back to displaying the base emoji followed by a colored square.
HTML entities provide another way to include emojis in web pages. You can use decimal entities like 😀 or hexadecimal entities like 😀 to insert emojis directly into HTML source code without needing the actual Unicode character in your file. Shortcodes like :grinning: are a convention used by platforms such as GitHub, Slack, and Discord to let users type emoji names that get converted to the corresponding Unicode character on display.
The Unicode Consortium organizes emojis into several top-level categories. Smileys and Emotion covers facial expressions, hand gestures, and hearts. People and Body includes human figures, families, and body parts with skin tone support. Animals and Nature contains mammals, birds, insects, plants, and weather symbols. Food and Drink ranges from fruits and vegetables to prepared meals and beverages.
Travel and Places encompasses vehicles, buildings, landmarks, and geographic features. Activities covers sports, arts, events, and games. Objects includes everyday items like tools, office supplies, clothing, and technology. Symbols contains arrows, warning signs, zodiac symbols, and mathematical operators. Flags includes country flags, regional flags, and specialty flags like the rainbow and pirate flags.
This picker groups emojis into these standard categories so you can browse systematically. The search function also indexes keywords beyond the official name, so searching "happy" will surface the grinning face, smiling face with open mouth, and several other relevant results even though "happy" is not in every one of their official names.
Emojis have become a standard part of social media communication. Studies from Hootsuite and Sprout Social indicate that posts containing emojis tend to receive higher engagement rates on Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook. Subject lines with emojis in email marketing can increase open rates by 10-15% according to Campaign Monitor data, though the effect varies by industry and audience.
For brands, emoji usage should align with the overall tone and audience expectations. A fintech startup communicating with enterprise clients may use emojis sparingly and stick to professional choices like checkmarks and arrows. A lifestyle brand targeting younger demographics might use a wider palette of expressive faces and objects. Consistency matters: pick a set of emojis that match your brand voice and use them regularly so they become part of your recognizable communication style.
Accessibility is worth considering. Screen readers announce emoji names, so a message with ten consecutive emojis creates a poor experience for users with visual impairments. Use emojis as supplements to text rather than replacements, and place them at the end of sentences or as bullet-point markers rather than embedding them mid-word. The Unicode name read aloud by assistive technology may differ from what you expect, so test with a screen reader if you are producing content at scale.
Click any emoji in the grid and it will be copied to your clipboard automatically. A confirmation toast will appear at the bottom of the screen. You can also open the detail panel by clicking an emoji, then use the individual copy buttons to copy the Unicode code point, HTML entity, or shortcode format instead of the raw emoji character.
No. Each platform uses its own emoji font and design style. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and other vendors create their own visual interpretations of each Unicode code point. The underlying character is the same, but the artwork differs. This can occasionally cause miscommunication when an emoji conveys a different nuance on the recipient's device than on the sender's.
A Unicode code point is a numerical value that identifies a specific character in the Unicode standard. It is written in hexadecimal with a U+ prefix, such as U+1F600 for the grinning face. Code points serve as the universal identifier that allows every platform and application to recognize which character to render, regardless of the device or operating system.
It depends on your workplace culture and audience. Many professionals use emojis sparingly in internal communications, especially in tools like Slack and Teams. For external client-facing emails, conservative industries (finance, law, healthcare) typically avoid emojis while creative industries (marketing, design, media) use them more freely. A single well-placed emoji in a subject line can increase open rates, but overuse can appear unprofessional.
Anyone can submit an emoji proposal to the Unicode Consortium. Proposals must include evidence of expected usage frequency, distinctiveness from existing emojis, and broad applicability across cultures. The Emoji Subcommittee reviews proposals and recommends candidates for inclusion in the annual Unicode release. From proposal to availability on devices typically takes 18 to 24 months, since vendors need time to design their artwork and ship updated emoji fonts with OS updates.