How to know what an emoji means on iPhone

Learn what your favorite emojis mean! Follow these simple steps to quickly find out exactly what each emoji means.

Emojis are cute! Emojis bless us with a unique way to express everything, from mood swings to monotonous symbols. Interestingly, Apple offers a stunning collection of nearly 3,700 emojis for iPhone and iPad users. While using emoticons is easy, understanding their meanings can be challenging for some.

How to find the meaning of emojis on your iphone

For instance, you must have seen people insert the wrong emojis in messages and give a different meaning to the text. However, the iPhone allows you to find the meaning associated with a particular emoji. Want to know how? Use these easy-to-follow steps to decode the language of emojis.

2 Ways to find out what emojis mean on iPhone

First, you need to enable Speak Selection and then make the iPhone read the expression out on an emoji-supported app. Follow these simple steps, and you’ll be good to go!

1. Turn on Speak Selection on iPhone

  1. Launch the Settings app โ†’ Tap Accessibility
  2. Choose Spoken Content.  
  3. Toggle on Speak Selection.

    Tap Accessibility click Spoken Content toggle On Speak Selection in SettingsTap Accessibility click Spoken Content toggle On Speak Selection in Settings

2. Make your iPhone tell you the meaning of emojis

After making the changes in the Settings app, letโ€™s try this feature on an iOS app that supports emojis. We have taken the Notes app as an example here.  

  1. Open the Notes app โ†’ Open a new note or an existing one.
  2. On your keyboard, tap the emoji icon on the bottom left.
    If you have multiple keyboards installed, you’ll find the emoji icon next to the space bar.

    Tap the emoji icon in keyboardTap the emoji icon in keyboard

  3. Insert the emojis of your choice.
  4. Press and hold the emojis until a pop-up menu appears โ†’ Choose Select All.
    If you have entered just one emoji, tap Select.
  5. Tap the arrow appearing on the second pop-up menu that appears.
  6. Keep swiping left until you find and tap Speak.

    Tap Select All tap arrow click Speak in NotesTap Select All tap arrow click Speak in Notes

  7. Now, your iPhone will read aloud the meaning of the emoji you selected.

Top 50 emoji meanings on iPhone and iPad

We have highlighted the most common yet popular iPhone emoji meanings list below. Do check them out.

Emoji Symbol Emoji Name Emoji Meaning
๐Ÿ˜‚ Face With Tears of Joy Laughter; Cheerfulness
โค๏ธ Red Heart Love
๐Ÿ˜ญ Loudly Crying Face Crying, sadness; Can also mean something is very cute
๐Ÿ˜Ž Smiling Face With Sunglasses Cool; Sunglasses
๐Ÿ˜ Smiling Face With Heart-Eyes Love, endearment
๐Ÿ‘ Thumbs up OK, understood; Good
๐Ÿ˜Š Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes Happy; Blushing
๐Ÿฅถ Cold Face Cold, freezing
๐Ÿ™ Hands Pressed Together Thanks; High five; Prayer
๐Ÿ™ˆ See-No-Evil Monkey Embarrassed, blushing
๐Ÿ˜˜ Face Blowing a Kiss Blowing a kiss; Love
๐Ÿ˜ฑ Face Screaming in Fear Scared; Surprised, shocked
๐Ÿ˜ฌ Grimacing Face Unsure; Tense
๐Ÿ™Œ Hands Raised in Celebration Appreciation
๐Ÿ‘ Clapping Hands Clapping; Celebration
๐Ÿ”ฅ Fire Approval, appreciation; Hot
๐Ÿ˜„ Beaming Face With Smiling Eyes Happiness, joy
๐Ÿ’” Broken Heart Sadness; Brokenhearted
๐Ÿคฃ Rolling on the Floor Laughing Face Laughter; Joy
๐Ÿ‘Œ OK Hand Sign Understood; Agreement
โ˜น๏ธ Frowning Face Sadness; Disappointment
๐Ÿ˜ก Red Angry Face Anger, madness
๐Ÿฅฐ Smiling Face With Hearts Love; Appreciation
๐Ÿ’ฏ Hundred Points Symbol Excellent; Understood
๐Ÿ‘€ Eyes Surprised, shocked; Shifty
๐Ÿ˜ช Sleepy Face Tired
๐Ÿ˜ž Disappointed Face Upset, disappointed
๐Ÿคฌ Face With Symbols Over Mouth Angry, distraught
๐Ÿค’ Face With Thermometer Sick
๐Ÿฅบ Pleading Face Cute, adorable; Admiration
๐Ÿคฏ Exploding Head Mind blown; Shock
๐Ÿ˜ Smirking Face Confident
๐Ÿฅต Hot Face Hot 
๐Ÿ’€ Skull Skull; Laughter
๐Ÿ‘‹ Waving Hand Greetings, goodbye
๐Ÿคก Clown Face Funny
๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ Man/Woman Shrugging Uncertainty; Indifference
๐ŸŽ‰ Party Popper Celebration, excitement
๐Ÿ’• Two Hearts Love
๐Ÿ˜ด Sleeping Face Tired
๐Ÿ€ Four Leaf Clover Lucky
โœ… Check Mark Symbol Approval, understanding
๐Ÿค” Thinking Face Deep in thought
๐Ÿ˜ Neutral Face Indifference; Unsure; Awkward
๐Ÿ˜• Confused Face Confused
๐Ÿ˜‰ Winking Face Wink; Joking; Cheeky
๐Ÿ˜‡ Smiling Face With Halo Innocent
๐Ÿ˜ฎ Surprised Face With Open Mouth Shock, surprise
๐Ÿคข Nauseated Face Sick, nausea
๐Ÿง Face with monocle Suspicious look
๐Ÿซ  Melting face Blushing
๐Ÿซถ Heart hands Depicts love
๐Ÿซก Saluting face Respect
๐Ÿซข Face with open eyes and hand over mouth Giggling
๐Ÿ’ช Flexed Bicep Strong

What are the new emojis in iOS 18

Giving a breather to its already vivid emoji collection, Apple has released the preview of the upcoming 7 new emojis in iOS 18. You can access the emojis in the iOS 18.4 beta 2 update. However, note that the beta update is buggy and may cause system issues.

I know you must be curious to know about the upcoming iOS 18 emojis, so here is a table defining some of the new emoji symbols and names.

iOS 18.4 introduces 7 new emojis for iPhone users:

  • Sleepy/tired face with bags under eyes
  • Fingerprint
  • A leafless tree
  • Root vegetable
  • Harp
  • Shovel
  • Splatter

Along with these, iOS 18 has also introduced a new feature called Genmoji, which takes emoji customization to the next level. Powered by AI, it allows you to create personalized emojis based on text descriptions. So, you can generate as many creative emojis as you want.

If you are wondering which emojis were last released by Apple, hereโ€™s the list. It includes 118 dynamic emoticons comprising six new concepts and four gender-neutral family emojis. Also, there is a big change in the design of family emojis. You can access these emojis on iOS 17.4 or later.

Emoji Symbol  Emoji Name  
โ€๐Ÿฆโ€๐Ÿ”ฅ Phoenix 
โ€๐Ÿ‹โ€๐ŸŸฉ Lime wedge
โ›“๏ธโ€   Broken Chain 
๐Ÿ„โ€๐ŸŸซ Brown Mushroom
โ€๐Ÿ™‚โ€โ†”๏ธ Head shaking horizontally 
โ€๐Ÿ™‚โ€โ†•๏ธ Head shaking vertically 
๐Ÿšถโ€โžก๏ธ Person walking facing right
๐Ÿƒโ€โžก๏ธ Person running facing right
โ€๐ŸงŽโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Person kneeling facing right  
โ€๐Ÿง‘๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿฆฏโ€โžก๏ธ Person with white cane facing right 
โ€๐Ÿง‘๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿฆฝโ€โžก๏ธ  Person in manual wheelchair facing right
โ€๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿฆผโ€โžก๏ธ Person in motorized wheelchair facing right
๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง’ Family of two adults and child
๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง’โ€๐Ÿง’ Family of an adult and two children
๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง’ Family of an adult and a children
๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿง’โ€๐Ÿง’ Family of two adults and two children
๐Ÿชฌ Hamsa Amulet (A blue hand with an eye in the center)
๐Ÿชฏ Khanda Emblem (symbol of the Sikhism)
๐Ÿชˆ Yellow flute
๐Ÿช‡ Maracas
๐Ÿชช Identification card
๐Ÿ›ป Pickup truck

Wrapping up

Emojis let you interact and connect with others and add interest to your message. I hope you can easily find the meaning of emojis on your iPhone now and donโ€™t have to worry about messing up with emojis while texting.

So, switch to emoji texting now! And donโ€™t forget to share your favorite emoji in the comments section.

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