How to Add Emoji to Your iPhone Keyboard

The iPhone includes hundreds of emoji, all accessible and completely free—provided you enabled the built-in emoji keyboard. In this guide, we show you how to enable, use, and remove emoji on all iPhone, iPad, and iPhone touch devices with iOS 7 or later.

How to Enable Emoji on iPhone

To add emoji to your iPhone, install a new keyboard, which is as easy as selecting the emoji keyboard from the phone's settings.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Go to General > Keyboard.

3. Select Keyboards > Add New Keyboard.

4. Swipe through the list until you find Emoji, and then tap it to enable it.

On the Keyboards screen, you'll see the language keyboard you chose at the initial setup of your iPhone, as well as the emoji keyboard. This means that emoji are enabled and ready to use.

How to Use Emoji on iPhone

With emoji added to your iPhone, you can now type emojis in practically any app. It won't work in all apps because some use a custom keyboard, but others like Messages, Notes, and Mail will work.

With the keyboard open, select the face or globe icon beneath the keyboard (on iPhone X) or to the left of the space bar to access the emoji menu.

To view all the emoji, scroll to the right or select an icon at the bottom to jump to that category of emoji (categories were introduced in iOS 8.3). Inserting an emoji in a message is as simple as selecting where you want it to go and then tapping the emoji from the tray.

How to Use Multicultural Emoji

For years, the standard set of emoji available on the iPhone featured only white traits, like white faces and white hands. Apple worked with the Unicode Consortium, the group that controls emoji, to change the standard set to reflect a more diverse selection.

However, you have to perform a keyboard trick to see the multicultural options. Here's how:

1. Open the emoji keyboard from an app that supports it.

2. Find an emoji that's a single human face or hand, and tap and hold it.

3. With the new menu visible, slide your finger up into the panel to land on the emoji you want to use, and then lift your finger to insert the hidden emoji.

How to Remove the Emoji Keyboard

If you decide you don't want to use emoji anymore and want to hide the keyboard, return to the keyboard settings to make the change.

1. Open the Settings app and go to General > Keyboard > Keyboards.

2. Tap Edit at the top and then select the red minus button next to Emoji.

3. Select Delete.