Emoji are just small pictures that stand in for words

At their core, emoji work like a modern version of the smiley faces people have drawn by hand for decades — a small picture added to a message to show a feeling or add color, without needing anything installed or set up.

Finding the emoji keyboard on your phone

On an iPhone, tap the small globe or smiley icon on the keyboard while typing a message; on an Android phone, look for a similar smiley icon in the same spot. Tapping it switches your regular keyboard over to a grid of emoji you can scroll through or search.

A few emoji that are safe to start with

A simple smiling face, a thumbs up, and a heart cover the vast majority of everyday messages and are understood the same way by nearly everyone, making them a comfortable starting point before exploring further.

Using an online emoji keyboard instead

If the small icons on a phone keyboard are hard to see or tap accurately, a website like this one displays emoji much larger on a computer screen — search by typing a plain word like 'happy' or 'flower,' click the one you want, and it copies automatically so you can paste it into a text message or email.