How to type emoji on iPad

On-screen keyboard, hardware shortcut

iPad emoji entry depends on whether you use the on-screen keyboard or a hardware keyboard. Both work, plus Apple Pencil Scribble and Genmoji on Apple Silicon iPads.

Step-by-step

1
On-screen: tap the smiley
😊
When the on-screen keyboard is up, tap the smiley/globe icon in the bottom-left to switch to the emoji keyboard.
2
Magic Keyboard / Smart Keyboard
Fn / 🌐
Press Fn or the Globe key on the Magic Keyboard or Smart Keyboard. The emoji picker pops up. Tap an emoji or use arrow keys + Enter.
3
Apple Pencil + Scribble
In any text field, draw the emoji shortcut name (e.g. "fire") with your Pencil. iPadOS converts handwriting and predictive emoji appears above.
4
Genmoji on iPad Pro M1+
With Apple Intelligence enabled, use the Genmoji generator the same way as iPhone — describe an emoji and Apple generates a custom one.