How to type emoji on Android
Gboard, Samsung Keyboard & Emoji Kitchen
Most Android phones ship with either Gboard (Google) or Samsung Keyboard. Both have full emoji pickers, predictive text, and search-by-name. Gboard adds Emoji Kitchen mashups — combine any two emoji into a custom sticker.
Step-by-step
- 1
Open Gboard emoji panel
😊Tap the smiley icon next to the spacebar (or long-press the comma key on some keyboards). Swipe through categories at the bottom.
- 2
Search emoji by name
In the Gboard emoji panel, tap the magnifier and type a word — "fire", "heart", "rocket". Tap the result to insert.
- 3
Use Emoji Kitchen
In Gboard's emoji panel, tap any emoji — Gboard shows mashup combinations with related emoji. Tap the combined sticker to send it (animated PNG, not a real emoji).
- 4
Voice input
Tap the microphone on Gboard, then say "fire emoji" or "smiling face". Most Android voice keyboards recognise emoji dictation.
- 5
Samsung Keyboard variants
On Samsung phones, tap the emoji icon then tap "GIF" / "Sticker" / "Bitmoji" to switch between sets. Long-press any emoji for skin-tone variants.
Frequently asked
It is built into Gboard. Open Gboard → emoji panel → tap any emoji. If it does not appear, update Gboard from the Play Store.
Update your system to the latest Android version. Emoji ship with the system font; new entries (Unicode 16.0+) need Android 14 or higher.