Published on: 31/08/2016 | Updated on: February 27, 2026

iPhone emoji keyboard – A thorough history

Basically, iPhone emoji keyboard uses for emoticons and emoji are illustrated characters. They are beautifully aligned with the etymology terms. The term arises from Japanese expression. If we elaborate, “E” came from “Picture” and “moji” came from “Character/ Letter”. As far as everybody knows, emoji was originated by a technologist who was working on a mobile internet platform called i-mode of NTT DoCoMO. This is the biggest telecommunication organization in Japan.

Science then it is emoji, formerly was known as emoticons and kaomoji. It has developed gradually and increased its popularity. In 2010, the comprehensive utilization of the world added emoji in the Unicode Standard. This step of emoji enhanced the compatibility with iOS. In 2011, Apple added the iPhone emoji keyboard to its mobile OS version iOS 5. Beside this, emoji has been added with other companies gradually such as Yelp emoji searches, Instagram emoji hashtags, Domino’s pizza emoji orders, Emojli. Kirsten Dunst’s emoji- and pun-filled tweet response to the infamous iCloud celebrity photo hack which of 2014. “Remain blessed iCloud [pizza emoji] [poop emoji].”

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iPhone emoji keyboard – Unlock it for iPhone/ iPad

To use iPhone Emoji Keyboard, you have to unlock it first. For different device, there are different ways to unlock it. Let me show you how to unlock it one-by-one.

Unlock iPhone Emoji Keyboard for iOS 8 devices

1. Go to “Settings” and tap on it
2. Now go to “General”
3. Tap on “Keyboard”
4. After that Tap on “Keyboards”
5. Now Tap on “Add New Keyboard”
6. Now select “Emoji” – YOU ARE DONE
7. During typing when you desire to use any emoticon, Find the Smiley icon or Globe button beside the Spacebar and PRESS

N.B: For iOS 5 and older, Emoji app is required to use iPhone Emoji Keyboard.

Unlock iPhone Emoji Keyboard for iOS 6 or 7 devices

1. Go to “Settings” and tap on it
2. Now go to “General”
3. Tap on “Keyboard”
4. After that Tap on “Keyboards”
5. Now Tap on “Add New Keyboard”
6. Now select “Emoji” – You have unlocked the iPhone Emoji Keyboard
7. During your typing when you desire to use any emoticon, Find the Globe button beside the Spacebar and PRESS it

N.B: No app is required for this version. Because Apple added the emojis in iOS 6 version. For this version, there is some paid emojis available too.

Unlock iPhone Emoji Keyboard for iOS 5 devices

1. Go to “Settings” and tap on it
2. Now go to “General”
3. Tap on “Keyboard”
4. After that Tap on “International Keyboards”
5. Now Tap on “Add New Keyboard”
6. Now select “Emoji” – You have unlocked the iPhone Emoji Keyboard
7. During typing when you desire to use any emoticon, Find the Globe button beside the Spacebar and PRESS it

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Unlock iPhone Emoji Keyboard for iOS (2.2 to 4)

1. Confirm that you own Apple device containing iOS higher than 2.2
2. From App Store download Emoji Free or Spell Number which you can install for free of cost and you are done. Now you can use the iPhone Emoji Keyboard at your device.

How to enable iPhone Emoji Keyboard for iPhone 4.0 device?

1. Go to “Settings” and tap on it
2. Now go to “General”
3. Tap on “International”
4. After that Tap on “Keyboards”
5. Now Tap on “Add New Keyboard”
6. Then go down by scrolling and select the keyboard “Emoji” – And you are done! Congratulations!

Some important issues you must consider

1. You won’t be able to use it if set it straight from the Keyboard settings.
2. To get back the Emoji duly, you must reset the device after finishing this process.
3. After completing all this process you won’t be able to delete the emoji keyboard.

Use Emoji Keyboard for OSX

Emoji Keyboard is included to the OSX 10.7 Lion. So you just use it by pressing a shortcut.

For OSX 10.9 Mavericks shortcut is Command key + CTRL + Spacebar (At earlier than Mavericks emoji shortcut was: Command Key + Option Key + T). Almost all emoji apps of OSX contains emoji character pallet at “Edit” and then “Special Characters”. You can visit iEmoji.com for getting access to more systems having emoji.

To use emoji on your Macbook:

1. First position your cursor where you desire to insert emoticon

2. Now Press together the Command key + CTRL + Spacebar keys on your keyboard, it will bright the Characters palette in front of you.

3. Now go to the sidebar and click on Emoji

4. Now you can browse different emoji categories and use it where you want

5. When you finish you have to click on the Red Circle which is situated at the top left side of Character Palette, that’s all!

Use Emoji Keyboard for Android OS

For Emoji using in Android OS is very much easy. You can just switch “On” and switch “Off” in the Settings function when you desire. And you get emoji on by default for Android 4.4 version and higher.

To use emoji for an older version (Android 4.2, 4.3) than Android 4.4 there are many free apps for you at Google Play Store. You can also try Handcent Emoji Plugin and Kika Keyboard too.

5 Awesome iPhone Emoji Keyboards to accelerate Emoji Games

1. iPhone Emoji Keyboard: Slash Keyboard

 Slash Keyboard is just a wow keyboard to accelerate your emoji games. By using it’s “/” key you can search out information at Giphy, Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter etc. All emoji users really enjoy this search functionality. You can get emoticons just searching in genre of the emoji, when you found it, now just TAP on it and GO! To enjoy all features of this keyboard, you must enable the full access in your iPhone Emoji Keyboard settings. The great thing about this keyboard is IT’S FREE!

 

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2. iPhone Emoji Keyboard: Emoji Type

Emoji Type keyboard recommends emoticons related your typed word on the screen. For instance, you typed food, “Emoji Type” will show your emoticon of different types of food. You can use these emoticons to your message easily. This is really a cool autocomplete functionality. Emoji Type costs 0.99USD only.

 3. iPhone Emoji Keyboard: Emoji++

Emoji++ was released first for iOS 8. It is an extremely simple keyboard which using you can easily scroll each and every emoticon on the iPhone/ iPad. The UI design is very similar to a default iPhone emoji keyboard. The difference is the vertically scrolling functionality. It shows you recent choice and provides to create your favorite emoticon list. You can use it with the latest iOS 9.1 also. The price of Emoji++ 0.99USD.

4. iPhone Emoji Keyboard: Minuum

The major specialty of Minuum iPhone Emoji Keyboard is its extra-fast autocorrecting function. According to your typing, it brings related emoticons in its autocomplete bar which can be very helpful for you to express. Minuum keyboards price a bit high 3.99USD, but I think it does not matter who enjoys its awesome functionalities. If you are in the market for high quality super clone replica audemars piguet watches, Audemars Piguet Island is the place to go. It’s a one stop shop for all clone watches grade. To say that they provide the best fake AP, is not to say anything.

 5. iPhone Emoji Keyboard: Built-in-keyboard

The default iPhone Emoji Keyboard which was integrated by Apple with Apple devices starting from iOS 8.3. Just unlock the iPhone Emoji Keyboard as described before and enjoy your Emoji keyboard.

You can have a look at various kinds of emoji apps at emojikeyboards.com.

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