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Emojis are great because they enhance modern digital communication by adding emotions and expressions. They also evolve over time as the Unicode Consortium frequently adds new ones. Google delivers the Unicode-ratified set of emojis to Android phones with software updates, so you don't have to go hunting for them separately. But since these updates take time to reach all Android phones, some of them are left behind with older emojis. Some OEMs also replace the default Android emoji set with their own version, again creating a disparity between what’s available on your phone versus your friend's phone.

You can, however, change the emojis that are available on your Android phone. It's not as easy as downloading a new version of software, but it's possible to get a different set of emojis than the one that is shipped with your phone. In this guide, we’ll talk about the various ways you can change emojis on Android.

Change emoji on Android phones without root access

If you don’t have root access on your Android phone, you won’t be able to change emojis on a system level. Having said that, there are keyboard, font, and text messaging apps that allow you to use different emojis on an app level. With these apps, you’ll be able to send and, in some cases, receive properly formatted emojis that aren't included in the version of Android running on your phone or were not added by the manufacturer.

Gboard

Gboard emojis

If your device manufacturer isn't pushing out timely Android updates with new emojis, you can use Gboard to get the new ones on your phone. Gboard typically gets new emojis faster than any non-Pixel smartphone would get them.

With Gboard, you’ll be able to use the new emojis wherever you can use the keyboard, but since these emojis are not present in the system, they won’t display unless the app in which you’re using these emojis can identify them. This means if you're able to see a particular emoji in the Twitter app but not on WhatsApp, it means the latter is yet to incorporate the latest emoji set.

Swiftkey and Fleksy are two other great keyboard apps with a good selection of emojis. You can use them to change the emojis if you don’t like Gboard.

zFont 3

zFont emojis

​​​​​You can also use an app like zFont to get new emoji fonts if your phone supports changing the system font. This app only works with phones from select manufacturers, so keep that in mind. It allows you to download emoji files used by different platforms like Windows, JoyPixel, Facebook, and more. This particular application, however, includes a lot of full-screen ads, so it doesn’t offer the best user experience.

Textra

Textra emojis

Textra is a great Android text messaging app that's also featured in our list of the best SMS apps for Android. This app comes with multiple emoji styles - including Twitter emojis and iOS emojis. If you text frequently and use emojis a lot, this app will solve a lot of your emoji problems. You can select your favorite set of emojis by going to Settings > Customize Look > Emoji Style.

Use Emoji Kitchen

Here's another reason to use Gboard on your Android phone -- Emoji Kitchen. This particular feature lets you generate stickers which are essentially mashups of two different emojis. All you have to do is simply tap two emojis of your choice to let Gboard create a mashup of them as a custom sticker. Selecting the Clown and Skull emojis, for instance, will get you a Clown-faced Skull sticker like this -

An image showing the Emoji Kitchen feature to create a custom Clown-faced Skull sticker.

And since these are sent across as a sticker, they should be visible on all messaging platforms, regardless of the emoji set the person on the receiving end is using on their device. Here's how you can use this feature:

  1. The first thing you need to do is open your preferred messaging application.
  2. Once you've started a conversation, simply tap on the emoji button within the Gboard to open the emoji selection window.
  3. Since the Emoji Kitchen feature is built into Gboard, you can directly select two emojis to create a mashup.
  4. Once done, just tap on the newly generated sticker to send it as a sticker in your conversation.

Change emoji on rooted Android phones

If you've gained root access on your Android phone, you can change emojis on a system level. It's important to remember that even though you’ll get new emojis on the system level, chat apps that use their own sets of emojis will still not show the new emojis. The same is true for people to whom you’re sending the new emojis. If their phone doesn’t have the new emojis, they won’t be able to see what you send them either.

RKBDI Emojis Magisk module

Android 12 emoji with RKBD Magisk module

If you want to get your hands on the latest set of emojis out there, then you can use this Magisk module by XDA member RKBDI. This one's a great option for those with root access on their Android phones, and it's one of the popular packs that users in the XDA Forum often recommend.

Emoji Replacer app

Developed by XDA Member RickyBush_, the Emoji Replacer app allows users to create Magisk modules on the fly, making it easy to replace emoji sets in a rooted environment. You can learn more about Emoji Replacer in its official XDA thread.


Well, those are some ways in which you can change the emojis on your Android phone. The process isn't exactly straightforward, but you should be able to get access to a new set of emojis fairly easily, regardless of whether you have root access or not. Using Gboard and its Emoji Kitchen is a great way to access custom emojis and stickers on your Android phone. Those with root access can always rely on the forum threads that we mentioned to get some cool new emojis on their device. If you think we missed a great app to change emojis on Android, let us know in the comments below. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a way to remove ads, make sure to read our guide on how you can block ads on Android.