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.
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
- Launch the Settings app → Tap Accessibility.
- Choose Spoken Content.
- Toggle on Speak Selection.
2. Make your iPhone tell you the meaning of emojis
After making the changes in the Settings app, let’s try this feature on an iOS app that supports emojis. We have taken the Notes app as an example here.
- Open the Notes app → Open a new note or an existing one.
- 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.
- Insert the emojis of your choice.
- Press and hold the emojis until a pop-up menu appears → Choose Select All.
If you have entered just one emoji, tap Select. - Tap the arrow appearing on the second pop-up menu that appears.
- Keep swiping left until you find and tap Speak.
- 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 |
| 😂 | Face With Tears of Joy | Laughter; Cheerfulness |
| ❤️ | Red Heart | Love |
| 😭 | Loudly Crying Face | Crying, sadness; Can also mean something is very cute |
| 😎 | Smiling Face With Sunglasses | Cool; Sunglasses |
| 😍 | Smiling Face With Heart-Eyes | Love, endearment |
| 👍 | Thumbs up | OK, understood; Good |
| 😊 | Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes | Happy; Blushing |
| 🥶 | Cold Face | Cold, freezing |
| 🙏 | Hands Pressed Together | Thanks; High five; Prayer |
| 🙈 | See-No-Evil Monkey | Embarrassed, blushing |
| 😘 | Face Blowing a Kiss | Blowing a kiss; Love |
| 😱 | Face Screaming in Fear | Scared; Surprised, shocked |
| 😬 | Grimacing Face | Unsure; Tense |
| 🙌 | Hands Raised in Celebration | Appreciation |
| 👏 | Clapping Hands | Clapping; Celebration |
| 🔥 | Fire | Approval, appreciation; Hot |
| 😄 | Beaming Face With Smiling Eyes | Happiness, joy |
| 💔 | Broken Heart | Sadness; Brokenhearted |
| 🤣 | Rolling on the Floor Laughing Face | Laughter; Joy |
| 👌 | OK Hand Sign | Understood; Agreement |
| ☹️ | Frowning Face | Sadness; Disappointment |
| 😡 | Red Angry Face | Anger, madness |
| 🥰 | Smiling Face With Hearts | Love; Appreciation |
| 💯 | Hundred Points Symbol | Excellent; Understood |
| 👀 | Eyes | Surprised, shocked; Shifty |
| 😪 | Sleepy Face | Tired |
| 😞 | Disappointed Face | Upset, disappointed |
| 🤬 | Face With Symbols Over Mouth | Angry, distraught |
| 🤒 | Face With Thermometer | Sick |
| 🥺 | Pleading Face | Cute, adorable; Admiration |
| 🤯 | Exploding Head | Mind blown; Shock |
| 😏 | Smirking Face | Confident |
| 🥵 | Hot Face | Hot |
| 💀 | Skull | Skull; Laughter |
| 👋 | Waving Hand | Greetings, goodbye |
| 🤡 | Clown Face | Funny |
| 🤷♂️ 🤷♀️ | Man/Woman Shrugging | Uncertainty; Indifference |
| 🎉 | Party Popper | Celebration, excitement |
| 💕 | Two Hearts | Love |
| 😴 | Sleeping Face | Tired |
| 🍀 | Four Leaf Clover | Lucky |
| ✅ | Check Mark Symbol | Approval, understanding |
| 🤔 | Thinking Face | Deep in thought |
| 😐 | Neutral Face | Indifference; Unsure; Awkward |
| 😕 | Confused Face | Confused |
| 😉 | Winking Face | Wink; Joking; Cheeky |
| 😇 | Smiling Face With Halo | Innocent |
| 😮 | Surprised Face With Open Mouth | Shock, surprise |
| 🤢 | Nauseated Face | Sick, nausea |
| 🧐 | Face with monocle | Suspicious look |
| 🫠 | Melting face | Blushing |
| 🫶 | Heart hands | Depicts love |
| 🫡 | Saluting face | Respect |
| 🫢 | Face with open eyes and hand over mouth | Giggling |
| 💪 | Flexed Bicep | Strong |
What are the new emojis in iOS 18
Giving a breather to its already vivid emoji collection, Apple is expected to release 7 new emojis in iOS 18. As per the previous launches, the emojis may roll out in iOS 18.3 or 18.4 update. However, you can preview the emojis in the Unicode Consortium.
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.
Emoji name:
- 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, here’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 |
| 🐦🔥 | Phoenix |
| 🍋🟩 | Lime wedge |
| ⛓️ | Broken Chain |
| 🍄🟫 | Brown Mushroom |
| 🙂↔️ | Head shaking horizontally |
| 🙂↕️ | Head shaking vertically |
| 🚶➡️ | Person walking facing right |
| 🏃➡️ | Person running facing right |
| 🧎♂️➡️ | Person kneeling facing right |
| 🧑🏻🦯➡️ | Person with white cane facing right |
| 🧑🏻🦽➡️ | Person in manual wheelchair facing right |
| 🧑🦼➡️ | Person in motorized wheelchair facing right |
| 🧑🧑🧒 | Family of two adults and child |
| 🧑🧒🧒 | Family of an adult and two children |
| 🧑🧒 | Family of an adult and a children |
| 🧑🧑🧒🧒 | Family of two adults and two children |
| 🪬 | Hamsa Amulet (A blue hand with an eye in the center) |
| 🪯 | Khanda Emblem (symbol of the Sikhism) |
| 🪈 | Yellow flute |
| 🪇 | Maracas |
| 🪪 | Identification card |
| 🛻 | 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 don’t have to worry about messing up with emojis while texting.
So, switch to emoji texting now! And don’t forget to share your favorite emoji in the comments section.
Also read:
- How to use Memoji on your iPhone and iPad Pro
- How to combine emojis on iPhone
- Best Emoji apps for iPhone and iPad
Great tips! I never realized I could just long-press on an emoji for more information. It’s so helpful for understanding those more obscure emojis. Thanks for sharing!