Quick answer
Emojis were invented in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita in Japan as a set of 176 pixelated 12Γ12 icons for NTT DoCoMo's i-mode platform. They became a global standard in 2010 when Unicode 6.0 officially included 722 emoji characters. Today, Unicode 16.0 recognises over 3,600 emojis used across every major platform and operating system worldwide.
Key Milestones in Emoji History
| Year | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Shigetaka Kurita creates 176 emoji for NTT DoCoMo | The first standardised emoji set |
| 2000s | SoftBank and KDDI launch rival Japanese emoji sets | Creates cross-carrier fragmentation problem |
| 2007 | Google proposes emoji inclusion in Unicode | Triggers the global standardisation process |
| 2008 | Apple releases iPhone OS 2.2 with emoji keyboard for Japan | First mass-market emoji keyboard on smartphones |
| 2010 | Unicode 6.0 includes 722 emoji | Emojis become a global computing standard |
| 2011 | Apple adds emoji keyboard to iOS 5 worldwide | Unlocks emoji for hundreds of millions of users |
| 2015 | Oxford Dictionaries names π "Word of the Year" | Emoji achieves mainstream cultural legitimacy |
| 2015 | Unicode 8.0 introduces skin tone modifiers | Major step in representation and inclusivity |
| 2019 | Unicode 12.0 adds disability-related emoji | Accessibility-driven expansion |
| 2022 | Unicode 15.0 β Shaking Face, Moose, Phoenix | Culture-driven additions reflecting internet trends |
| 2024 | Apple launches Genmoji (AI-generated emoji) | First step toward personalised, AI-created emoji |
| 2026 | Unicode 16.0 continues targeted expansion | Closing cultural gaps, improving accessibility |
1999: The Birth of Emoji
The story begins with Shigetaka Kurita, a designer at NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier. Working on the i-mode mobile internet platform, Kurita faced a practical problem: early mobile messaging was limited in space, and existing emoticons (text-based :) faces) were inconsistent and platform-specific. His solution was a standardised visual vocabulary β 176 icons, each drawn on a 12Γ12 pixel grid.
Kurita drew inspiration from manga art, kanji characters, and international road signs. The 176 originals covered weather, transportation, emotions, food, and everyday objects. They were deliberately simple β legible at tiny sizes on the low-resolution screens of 1999 feature phones.
The original 176 Kurita emojis are now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, acquired in 2016 as an example of interaction design.
2000s: The Carrier Wars
DoCoMo's emoji proved so popular that rival Japanese carriers β SoftBank and KDDI (au) β developed their own competing sets. By the mid-2000s, Japan had three incompatible emoji systems. A DoCoMo emoji sent to a SoftBank device would either display as a broken character or not appear at all.
This fragmentation was a significant technical and user experience problem. The carrier wars of the 2000s were the direct reason Google and Apple pushed for Unicode inclusion β they needed a single emoji standard that would work across all devices and networks.
2007β2009: Google, Apple, and Unicode
In 2007, Google engineers β including Mark Davis and Kat Momoi β submitted a formal proposal to the Unicode Consortium to include emoji as official Unicode characters. Their argument: emoji were widely used in Japan, carried real communicative value, and without standardisation would remain permanently broken across international platforms.
Apple joined the push motivated by the iPhone's Japan launch. The original iPhone did not support Japanese carrier emoji β a significant commercial disadvantage. In 2008, Apple quietly added an emoji keyboard to iPhone OS 2.2 for Japanese users, and technically-savvy international users quickly discovered how to unlock it, creating early viral demand for emoji worldwide.
2010: Unicode 6.0 β Emojis Go Global
October 2010 marked the pivotal moment: Unicode 6.0 officially included 722 emoji characters in the global computing standard. This transformed emoji from a Japanese mobile feature into a global communication tool. Once emoji were part of Unicode, any device running any operating system could display the same characters β a π sent from an Android in New York displayed identically on an iPhone in Tokyo. Explore every emoji added by Unicode version in the EmojiSelector search tool.
2011β2015: The Mainstream Explosion
Apple's decision to add an emoji keyboard to iOS 5 in 2011 β available worldwide β was the catalyst for mainstream adoption. Hundreds of millions of iPhone users suddenly had one-tap access to emoji. Social media accelerated adoption: Twitter enabled emoji rendering in 2012, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp followed. By 2014 emoji were ubiquitous across all age groups and most countries.
The cultural high-water mark came in 2015: Oxford Dictionaries named π (Face with Tears of Joy) its "Word of the Year" β the first time a non-word symbol received the honour. It reflected a genuine linguistic reality: emoji had become a primary expressive tool in digital communication. Learn how today's most-used symbols evolved by reading about hidden emoji meanings.
2015β2020: Diversity and Representation
Unicode 8.0 in 2015 introduced skin tone modifiers β five tones based on the Fitzpatrick dermatology scale. This was the most significant social intervention in emoji history: it acknowledged that the default "yellow" human emoji was culturally inadequate and gave users a meaningful choice. The implementation was technically elegant β a single base emoji modified by a colour suffix β and has scaled to the 15 skin-tone combinations now available.
The 2016β2020 period brought rapid expansion in gender variants (masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral options), diverse family configurations, and disability representation (Unicode 12.0: wheelchair users, hearing aids, prosthetic limbs). Each Unicode release was explicitly guided by representation goals.
2021β2023: The Refinement Era
Unicode 14.0 (2021) and 15.0 (2022) shifted from breadth to depth β adding culturally specific emoji reflecting real gaps in the vocabulary. Unicode 15.0 brought the Shaking Face π«¨, the Moose π«, the Phoenix π¦βπ₯, and new heart colours β additions that reflected specific internet culture needs users had been requesting for years. Check the 2026 trending emojis guide to see how these additions took hold.
Anyone can submit an emoji proposal to the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee. It must demonstrate uniqueness, broad applicability, and high expected usage frequency. The acceptance rate is below 5%.
2024β2026: AI and the Future of Emoji
Apple's Genmoji (2024) allows iPhone users to describe an emoji in natural language and generate a custom image that behaves exactly like a standard emoji β sendable in messages, usable as reactions. This fundamentally disrupts the Unicode model: for the first time, emoji vocabulary is no longer limited to what a standards committee has approved.
Parallel developments include animated emoji (now standard in iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram), platform-specific sticker sets, and AI-driven personalisation. Unicode 16.0 continues targeted, meaningful additions while the governing model faces growing competition from platform-specific extensions. See the complete guide to typing emojis on any device.
Emoji by the Numbers
| Statistic | Figure | Context |
|---|---|---|
| First emoji set size (1999) | 176 emoji | Shigetaka Kurita / NTT DoCoMo |
| Unicode 6.0 (2010) | 722 emoji | First global standard |
| Unicode 16.0 (2026) | 3,600+ emoji | Including all ZWJ sequences |
| Emoji sent per day worldwide | ~10 billion | Estimated across all platforms |
| Most-used emoji (2025) | π Face with Tears of Joy | Top position since 2015 |
| Skin tone combinations available | 5 tones + default | Fitzpatrick scale, Unicode 8.0+ |
| Countries with flag emoji | 258 | Including territories and special regions |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented the emoji?
Emoji were invented by Shigetaka Kurita, a designer at NTT DoCoMo in Japan, in 1999. He created the first standardised set of 176 emoji for the i-mode mobile internet platform. The original 176 emoji are now in the MoMA permanent collection in New York.
When were emojis added to the Unicode standard?
Emoji were officially included in Unicode 6.0 in October 2010. This was the critical moment that turned emoji from a Japanese carrier-specific feature into a global computing standard. 722 emoji were included in the initial Unicode batch.
How many emojis are there in 2026?
Unicode 16.0, the current standard in 2026, includes over 3,600 emoji when counting all ZWJ sequences and skin tone variants. The base set without variants is approximately 1,400 emoji characters. New emoji are added annually through the Unicode Consortium's proposal and approval process.
How does an emoji get added to Unicode?
Anyone can submit a proposal to the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee. Proposals must demonstrate uniqueness, broad cross-cultural applicability, high expected usage frequency, and distinctiveness at small sizes. The acceptance rate is below 5%. Approved emoji typically take 1β2 years from proposal to a Unicode release.
Why do emojis look different on different devices?
Unicode defines what an emoji means (the character code and name) but not what it looks like. Each platform (Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft) creates its own visual design. This is why π looks slightly different on iPhone versus Android β same character, different artistic interpretation. The meaning is standardised; the appearance is not.
What was the first emoji ever used?
The 176 emoji created by Shigetaka Kurita for NTT DoCoMo in 1999 are collectively the first. If you mean the first text-based emoticon (not Unicode emoji), that is generally credited to Scott Fahlman who posted :-) on a Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board in 1982 to indicate a joke. These are distinct traditions β emoticons predate emoji by 17 years.