“Special emojis” is not an official category in Unicode, the standard that defines emoji. When people search for it, they usually mean one of five different things: hidden emojis inside an app (like TikTok’s bracket codes), decorative symbols that look like emoji (✿ ✦ ♡), ordinary emojis that two people have given a private meaning, newly approved emojis that haven’t reached every phone yet, or custom emojis made for a server or brand.
These five behave very differently. Some work on every device, some only work inside one app, and some turn into empty boxes on older phones. This guide separates them so you can find the one you actually need.
Special Emojis at a Glance
| Type | What it is | Official Unicode emoji? | Where it works | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hidden platform emojis | Words in square brackets that an app converts into a custom graphic | No | Only inside that app | [smile] on TikTok |
| Special characters | Decorative symbols from other parts of Unicode | Mostly no | Most places, but the look varies | ✿ ✦ ♡ |
| Private-meaning emojis | Standard emojis given a meaning two people agree on | Yes | Anywhere | 🐧 as a pet name |
| New Unicode emojis | Recently approved emojis still rolling out | Yes | Only on updated devices | |
| Custom or branded emojis | Images uploaded or designed for a community or brand | No | Inside that community or platform | Discord, Slack |
✨ Emoji vs. Special Character: The Difference That Causes Most Problems
An emoji is a standardized character that Unicode recommends for use in messages, and each platform draws its own colorful version. A “special character” in the copy-and-paste sense is usually an ordinary text symbol from elsewhere in Unicode. It takes on the look of whatever font displays it, so it can appear thinner, plainer, or different from one device to another. Copy-and-paste symbol sites themselves warn that results can vary by browser, app, and device.
Some characters can be either, and this is where confusion starts. Take the heart: Unicode character U+2764 can display as a plain monochrome heart or as the red emoji, depending on an invisible helper character called a variation selector. U+FE0F asks for the colorful emoji form, and U+FE0E asks for the plain text form. Apps sometimes strip these invisible characters when text is copied between systems, which is why a red heart can turn black when you paste it somewhere else.
| What you see | Code points | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| ❤️ | U+2764 U+FE0F | The heart in emoji presentation |
| ❤︎ | U+2764 U+FE0E | The same heart forced into plain text presentation |
| ♡ | U+2661 | An outline-heart symbol, a separate character, not the emoji |
| 🤍 | U+1F90D | The White Heart emoji, a different thing from ♡ |
| ✨ | U+2728 | Sparkles, a true emoji |
| ✦ ✧ | U+2726, U+2727 | Four-pointed star symbols (decorative) |
| 🌸 | U+1F338 | Cherry Blossom, a true emoji |
| ✿ ❀ | U+273F, U+2740 | Flower symbols (decorative) |
Practical takeaways
- If a message has to look right for everyone, use a standard emoji. Decorative symbols are best for places where a slightly different look doesn’t matter, like a bio or a divider line.
- Before committing to a symbol in a username or profile, check it on both an iPhone and an Android phone if you can.
- A symbol that shows as an empty box means the device’s fonts don’t include it. The character itself is fine.
🔒 Hidden Emojis on TikTok
TikTok is the best-known source of “secret” emojis. There are 46 of them, and they don’t appear on the normal emoji keyboard. You insert one by typing its shortcode in square brackets in a comment or caption, such as [smile] or [wronged], and the app converts it into a small custom graphic.
Emojipedia points out that these are better described as emotes, stickers, or emoticons than as emoji, because they are not part of Unicode. That has two consequences worth knowing:
- They only work inside TikTok. Typing
[smile]on Instagram or LinkedIn leaves the literal word in brackets. - Their designs and meanings are set by TikTok, not by any standard, so descriptions differ between guides.
Here is a sample of shortcodes and how guides commonly describe them. Treat these as typical usage rather than fixed rules, since TikTok can change designs, and Emojipedia’s own full list is dated April 2021.
| Shortcode | Commonly described use |
|---|---|
[smile] | Happiness or appreciation |
[happy] | Excitement |
[angry] | Anger |
[wronged] | Shyness or pleading, similar in feel to 🥺👉👈 |
[flushed] | Nervousness or embarrassment |
[cute] | Something adorable |
[cool] | Coolness or sass |
[angel] | Innocence or kindness |
How it looks in a real comment thread
Mina (video caption): First attempt at a lemon cake and it leans a little.
Jo (comment): Okay but I need this recipe [wronged]
Mina (reply): Sending it tonight [cute]
What it suggests: [wronged] here softens a request, the way a pleading-face emoji would. Because these codes are specific to TikTok, the same comment pasted into another app would show the bracket text instead of the icon.
🔣 Special Characters: Symbols That Look Like Emoji
Copy-and-paste symbol pages are a large part of what people find when they search for special emojis. Their lists typically group decorative characters by theme: hearts (♡ ♥ ❣ ❥), stars and sparkles (✦ ✧ ★ ☆), and flowers (✿ ❀ ❁), often alongside true emoji.
Two things help you use them well:
- Know which characters are real emoji. A page that mixes ✿ with 🌸 is mixing a text symbol with an emoji. They can look similar in a design but behave differently across devices.
- Expect differences. A symbol that is thin and elegant on one phone can look heavy or fall back to a plain glyph on another.
🗝️ Emojis With a Private Meaning
Sometimes a “special” emoji is simply an ordinary emoji that two people have turned into a code. Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London surveyed 134 participants about this. Of the 72 who said they repurpose emoji, they reported using 69 different emoji for secret meanings. The octopus was the most common choice for secret communication, the penguin was the most common emoji for an affectionate name, and Animals & Nature was the most used category. About a fifth used emoji to express affection, and a similar share used them to stand for a particular person or pet.
One of the researchers compared this to nicknames and slang: a shortcut that, through repeated use, becomes an intimate in-joke others don’t share.
A realistic example
Omar: Landed. Battery is dying 🐧
Lena: 🐧 yourself. Text me when you’re home
What it suggests: If these two use 🐧 as an affectionate nickname, the exchange reads as warm. To an outsider it is just a penguin. The meaning lives in the relationship, not in the emoji, which is why no dictionary can tell you what a private emoji means.
When you meet a mystery emoji
- Check how the person has used it earlier in the conversation, and whether it repeats.
- Look at the words around it and the relationship between you.
- If it matters, ask. Guessing from a single emoji is unreliable.
Some emojis also pick up widely recognized secondary meanings that aren’t in their official definition. The 🍆 eggplant, for instance, is widely noted as a suggestive stand-in in some contexts. Whether that reading applies depends entirely on context, so treat lists of “hidden meanings” as clues about common usage and not as a guarantee of what any one sender intends.
🆕 New Special Emojis: What Unicode Added in 2025 and 2026
Another meaning of “special” is simply “new.” Unicode releases a new emoji set each September, and then phone makers take months to add their own designs.
Emoji 17.0 (released September 9, 2025)
Emojipedia lists seven new single-character emojis, plus one new sequence. Support depends on your device’s software, but these should appear on up-to-date phones.
| Emoji | Name (as listed by Emojipedia) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| | Distorted Face | A warped, melting-style face |
| | Fight Cloud | The dust cloud from cartoons and comic books |
| | Orca | Also called a killer whale |
| | Hairy Creature | Inspired by global “Bigfoot”-style cryptids |
| | Trombone | |
| | Landslide | |
| | Treasure Chest | |
| 🧑🩰 | Ballet Dancer | A sequence combining 🧑 and 🩰, with skin tone support |
An Apple Core emoji was originally on the draft list but was withdrawn before release. Emoji 17.0 also added skin tone options for 👯 People With Bunny Ears and 🤼 People Wrestling.
Emoji 18.0 (released September 16, 2026)
Nine new emoji concepts were approved: Cracking Face, Leftwards Thumb Sign, Rightwards Thumb Sign, Monarch Butterfly, Pickle, Lighthouse, Meteor, Eraser, and Net With Handle. The two thumb signs come with skin tones, which brings the batch to 19 emoji in total and lifts Unicode’s recommended total to 3,972, according to Emojipedia’s reporting.
Approval does not mean you can type them yet. Google published its designs in its Noto Color Emoji font on release day, but most phones add new emojis months later. Reports put broader availability between late 2026 and the first half of 2027, depending on the platform. I’m not showing the characters here because they won’t display on most devices yet.
Looking further ahead, Emojipedia has reported a first draft list for Emoji 19.0 with just five candidates. Drafts can change before approval.
Why a new emoji sometimes shows up as two emoji
Many emojis are built from several characters joined by an invisible character called a Zero Width Joiner (U+200D). If a device doesn’t recognize the combined version, it displays the pieces side by side. For example, 👩💻 (woman technologist) on an older device can appear as 👩 and 💻 separately. This is a support gap, not an error in what the sender typed.
🎨 Custom and Branded Special Emojis
Some “special emojis” are designed for a particular community, brand, or occasion, and are not Unicode at all.
- Community servers: In Discord, a person with the Manage Emojis and Stickers permission can add one under Server Settings → Emoji → Upload Emoji. In Slack, the emoji picker has an Add Emoji option for uploading an image.
- Brands: Design studio Buck made a set of emojis for Canva that included four “special” emojis outside the conventional set, meant to feel positive and celebratory in the spirit of the classic high five.
- Events: In 2016, Twitter released a Ramadan-themed emoji showing a mosque and a moon, triggered by specific hashtags and available for a limited time.
Because these are images, not text characters, they only appear in the place that supplies them.
Which Special Emoji Do You Need?
| If you want to… | Use this | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Add an icon to a TikTok comment that others can’t type | A bracket shortcode like [smile] | Only works in TikTok |
| Decorate a bio or divider | Decorative symbols like ✿ ✦ ♡ | Appearance varies by device |
| Send something every phone will show correctly | A long-established standard emoji | Very new emojis may not render yet |
| Share an inside joke | An ordinary emoji you both agree on | Others may read it literally |
| Use the very latest emojis | Check your phone’s software update | Support arrives in stages |
| Make something unique for a group | A custom emoji upload | Stays inside that community |
Frequently Asked Questions
Are special emojis different from regular emojis?
Sometimes. Hidden platform emojis and custom emojis are not part of Unicode, while private-meaning and new emojis are standard emojis. “Special” describes how they’re used or where they come from, not an official type.
Do TikTok’s hidden emojis work on Instagram or WhatsApp?
No. They are shortcodes TikTok converts inside its own app. Elsewhere you’ll just see the bracketed word.
Why does a symbol I copied show as an empty box?
The device or font doesn’t include a glyph for that character. Try a more common symbol or a standard emoji.
Does Unicode decide what an emoji means?
Unicode standardizes the character and its official name. Emotional, romantic, and slang meanings come from how people use it, and they can vary between groups and over time.
How can I tell if my phone supports the newest emojis?
Install the latest system update. If you see a box or a blank where a new emoji should be, your device doesn’t support it yet.
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Shahzad
Hi, I’m the creator behind EmojiNova, a passionate emoji enthusiast who loves exploring the fun and creative world of digital communication. I enjoy helping people discover emoji meanings, understand emoji symbols, and find the perfect emojis to express their feelings.
Through EmojiNova, my goal is to make online communication easier, more expressive, and more enjoyable. Whether you’re looking for emoji meanings, symbol explanations, or creative ways to use emojis in everyday conversations, I’m here to help you express yourself with confidence.
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