Image: WeChat designs / Emojipedia composite. Above: WeChat makes considerable use of props and hand gestures within the smiley set. While many of WeChat's stickers closely resemble existing emojis, others are quite distinct, such as which appears to show legs as arms (?). Notably, WeChat makes strong use of props and hands within the smileys, which is less common in the standard Unicode set. WeChat users can use both the WeChat sticker keyboard and the system-wide emoji keyboard interchangably. WeChat, on the other hand, can add a sticker when it wishes, as it controls the user experience end-to-end.Ībove: New designs on the WeChat sticker keyboard, including a cigar-free soldier. As a generalization, if Apple wanted to add an arbitrary emoji on iOS, it would first need to go through Unicode to do so.Same emoji range, different emoji designs. These are first approved by the Unicode Consortium, but then Apple designs the graphics for each emoji on iOS, while Samsung designs the emoji images found on the Galaxy line of phones. Standards-compliant emojis have multiple layers.Instead, the text string used to create the character will appear (eg for an upset rightward-facing character) When users copy and paste text including an 'emoji' from WeChat into an email or another app, the colorful graphic won't go with it.These look and feel a lot like emojis used on other platforms, with the distinction being that these only work within WeChat.Ī few ways the distinction between stickers and smileys matters: While commonly referred to as emojis, what is shown in WeChat is more correctly referred to as a set of in-app stickers. Above: WeChat no longer shows a cigar, bloodied meat cleaver, or a hammer hitting a head. Other changes include a smiley face being hit by a frying pan instead of a hammer, and the removal of blood from the meat cleaver. Popular Chinese messaging app WeChat has recently updated a number of emojis, including ditching the cigar from a smoking soldier.

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