Apple Emoji

Platform-Specific

Apple's proprietary emoji designs used across iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, known for their detailed, skeuomorphic style.

Apple was one of the first platforms to adopt emoji, adding support in iPhone OS 2.2 (2008, Japan-only) and globally in iOS 5 (2011). Apple's emoji designs are often considered the "reference" designs because of the iPhone's global reach.

Apple's emoji are designed in-house and are copyrighted — they cannot be freely used in other products. Their style tends toward detailed, glossy, 3D-like renderings, though Apple has moved toward a flatter style in recent versions.

Apple is generally fast to adopt new Unicode emoji releases and occasionally introduces platform-specific design changes that make headlines (like the pistol-to-water-gun change in iOS 10).

Related Terms

Google Noto Emoji Google Noto Emoji
Google's open-source emoji font family used on Android, Chrome, and available for anyone to use in their projects.
Microsoft Fluent Emoji Microsoft Fluent Emoji
Microsoft's 3D-style emoji designs introduced with Windows 11, featuring animated versions and released as open source.
Platform Rendering Platform Rendering
How different platforms (Apple, Google, Samsung, etc.) display the same Unicode emoji with their own unique visual designs.
Samsung Emoji Samsung Emoji
Samsung's custom emoji designs shipped with Samsung Galaxy devices, historically known for dramatically different interpretations.
Skeuomorphic Emoji Skeuomorphic Emoji
Emoji designed to look like realistic, three-dimensional objects with shadows, gradients, and texture — common in early emoji designs.
WhatsApp Emoji WhatsApp Emoji
WhatsApp's custom emoji set used within the messaging app, maintaining a consistent look across all devices.

Related Tools

🔀 Platform Compare Platform Compare
Compare how emojis render across Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and more. See visual differences side by side.