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Rounding up the emojis…
Rounding up the emojis…
The same emoji can look wildly different on Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and other platforms. These design differences can change meaning, cause confusion, and even spark internet debates. Here is a side-by-side comparison of every major emoji platform.
By ACiDek · Updated February 2025
Apple emoji are known for their high level of detail, glossy appearance, and rich color gradients. They set the visual standard that most people associate with emoji. Apple was the first Western platform to adopt emoji (iOS 5, 2011) and continues to be the benchmark for emoji design.
Photorealistic with 3D-like depth and shadows. Apple prioritizes recognizability and emotional expressiveness. Face emoji have detailed shading and subtle color transitions.
Google underwent a major emoji redesign in 2021, shifting from their blob-style emoji (beloved by many) to a flatter, more universal design. The current Google emoji use bold colors, clean outlines, and a slightly playful aesthetic. They are used on Android, Gmail, Google Chat, and Chrome OS.
Clean, 2D flat design with bold outlines. Google aims for clarity at small sizes and cultural universality. Their face emoji are rounder and simpler than Apple equivalents.
Samsung has historically had the most distinctive (and sometimes confusing) emoji designs. Their emoji frequently look different from other platforms, sometimes completely changing the meaning. Samsung has improved consistency in recent years but still stands out as the most unique design set.
Samsung takes creative liberties with emoji designs. Their gun emoji was one of the last to change from realistic to water gun. Face emoji tend to have different expressions than other platforms.
Microsoft introduced Fluent Emoji in 2022 — a complete redesign with 3D-rendered, Pixar-quality emoji. They are used in Windows 11, Teams, and Office 365. Microsoft also open-sourced their emoji designs, making them available for any developer to use.
3D rendered with Pixar-like quality. Microsoft Fluent Emoji emphasize personality and warmth. They are the only major platform to open-source their emoji designs.
Meta uses different emoji designs for Facebook and WhatsApp. Facebook emoji are flat and rounded, while WhatsApp has its own distinct set with Apple-like detailing. Instagram uses the system emoji (Apple on iOS, Google on Android) rather than its own set.
Friendly and approachable. Facebook emoji lean toward flat 2D while WhatsApp emoji have more depth. Both prioritize cross-cultural readability.
Twemoji is an open-source emoji set created by Twitter. It provides consistent emoji rendering across all platforms when viewing tweets on the web. Many other services also use Twemoji as their emoji font. The project was open-sourced by Twitter and is now maintained by the community.
Clean, consistent, and readable at small sizes. Twemoji uses flat design with bold, bright colors. Being open-source, it is the most widely adopted third-party emoji set.
These emoji have caused the most confusion, debate, and misunderstandings due to platform differences. Some differences are subtle (color shade), while others completely change the perceived meaning.
All platforms changed from realistic pistol to water gun between 2016-2018. Apple led the change, Google was last.
Apple has a photorealistic peach with a suggestive shape. Google has a simpler, more cartoon-like fruit. The cultural subtext varies by platform.
Apple shows bared teeth with wide eyes (nervous). Google shows a similar expression but friendlier. Samsung historically showed a big grin, completely changing the meaning.
Apple melts downward with dripping detail. Google is more abstract. Samsung has a unique puddle effect. The emoji conveys different intensities across platforms.
Subtle differences in the tear size and smile intensity change the emotional read — Apple is more bittersweet, Google is more hopeful.
Apple has a slight smirk suggesting sarcasm. Google has a genuine smile flipped, reading as silly rather than sarcastic.
The hand position, face expression, and overall vibe vary significantly. Apple has a serious military salute; Google is more casual.
Design varies from realistic to cartoon. Apple shows detailed ninja garb, Samsung adds a headband, Google keeps it simpler.
Finger position and eye expression create different emotional reads. Apple appears anxious; Google appears curious.
The ingredient order caused a famous debate in 2017 when Google placed cheese below the patty. Google "fixed" it after public outcry.
Google removed the egg from their salad emoji to make it vegan-friendly. Other platforms still include an egg. A small change with cultural significance.
Diamond style, ring color, and sparkle effects vary. Apple has a photorealistic diamond; Google uses a simpler gem shape.
The Unicode Standard specifies what an emoji represents but not how it should look. Unicode provides a name (e.g., "GRINNING FACE"), a codepoint (U+1F600), and reference glyphs — simple black-and-white outlines that serve as guidelines. Each platform then creates their own full-color artwork.
This is similar to how fonts work: the letter "A" is the same character across every font, but it looks different in Helvetica vs Times New Roman. Emoji are the same concept at a larger scale — they are "fonts" with pictographic characters rather than letters.
The practical impact is that an emoji sent from an iPhone may convey a different emotional tone when viewed on an Android device. This is why understanding platform differences matters for effective communication, especially in business and cross-platform messaging.
In October 2017, writer Thomas Baekdal tweeted that Google had placed the cheese below the hamburger patty in their 🍔 emoji, sparking a viral debate. Google CEO Sundar Pichai personally responded, saying the company would "drop everything" to fix it. The change was made in Android 8.1.
This seemingly trivial incident highlighted how seriously people take emoji design. It also demonstrated how platform differences can create real-world conversations about cultural norms (where does the cheese go on a burger?) and design standards.
Before their 2021 redesign, Google used a distinctive "blob" style for face emoji — amorphous, jelly-like characters with simple expressions. The blob emoji had a cult following, and their removal in favor of more standard circular faces was met with significant community backlash.
Google acknowledged the love for blobs by keeping them available in some Google products (like Gboard stickers) and releasing them as a sticker pack. The blob design remains a nostalgic favorite among long-time Android users and is often cited in discussions about the loss of platform personality in emoji design.
To minimize emoji miscommunication across platforms: