Proud Geek

All iDevices have their own Emojis – you know, not only the smiley faces but also dozens of other mini-icons / emoticons of dancing women, food dishes, cars and trucks, and much more.

What many people don’t realize is that it’s now relatively easy to enable Emojis without having to download an app.

Here’s how.

First, on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad, go to Settings / General / Keyboard and then tap on “International Keyboards.”

Next, tap on “Add New Keyboards …”

You’ll see a list of keyboards of different languages. Scroll down to “Emoji” and select it. (I know, I know, Emoji isn’t a language. Humor me here, please.)

You’ll be taken back to the Keyboards screen, where you should see the Emoji keyboard listed.

Now go to any app that involves typing – say, Mail or Messages. When you see the keyboard, you’ll see a world icon between the numbers key and the space bar (or mic, if you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone 4S).

Tapping the world icon key will switch keyboards – and if you only have two keyboards enabled then it’d switch directly to the Emoji keyboard.

You’ll notice that the Emoji keyboard has several tabs. Each tab has several pages – you only need to swipe the Emojis to see the next or previous page. The first tab lists the Emojis you most recently used, and the second tab is actually the “default” with the typical smiley faces and a great deal more. The rest of the tabs are for household / office stuff, nature, transportation, and other stuff.

Go swipe and have fun! :)

UPDATE: These Emoji can only be viewed on iDevices like iPads, iTouches, and iPhones. They show up as gibberish on other devices and on the computer. In addition, they might not be accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. Heck, they’re hard for me to see — I’m too close to being middle-aged for my own comfort … So, keep these in mind when using Emojis with friends, family, your audience, or your enemies.