Emojis are everywhere. We use them every day to inject humor and emotion into our conversations. They’ve successfully transformed how we speak to each other digitally, which is why it can be so upsetting if emojis have vanished from your device!
We feel your pain here at AppleToolBox, so this post shows you exactly how to get back the emoji keyboard on your iPhone.
Pro Tip: The steps are all the same for your iPad!
Quick tips
Follow these quick tips to get your emoji keyboard back on your iPhone!
Press and hold the globe (world/earth) icon or the smiley face icon to access your emoji keyboard options
Install or re-install the emoji keyboard in the Settings App
There are many reasons the emoji keyboard might have gone missing from your iPhone
A software update may have changed some settings, a bug in the iOS may be causing problems, or the keyboard may have been accidentally deleted.
Whatever the reason is, it shouldn’t take long to return to normal. We’ve outlined the process below, starting with the easiest solution and progressing to a full reset.
Follow this post, and you’ll be sure to have your emojis back in no time.
How to Get Back the Emoji Keyboard on Your iPhone
Make sure to select the emoji keyboard
Open an app that uses the keyboard (Messages, Mail, etc)
In the on-screen keyboard, press the globe or smiley face icon and hold down for a second or two (depending on the iPhone model, these icons might appear inside the keyboard or just below it)
The Globe icon only appears when you have multiple keyboards to choose from.
Wait for your installed keyboards to appear in a pop-up menu
Select emoji and voila!
Check that your device has the emoji keyboard installed
Next, let’s make sure the emoji keyboard is added to your iPhone settings. This is the most likely cause of the problem, follow these steps to set things straight:
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard
Keyboards > Add New Keyboard…
Find and select Emoji
Remove and Re-Add the Emoji Keyboard
If the emoji keyboard was already added to your settings, try removing it and adding it back again. To do this, return to the Keyboards page and slide the Emoji option to the left.
Delete the Emoji Keyboard
Launch the Settings > General
Tap Keyboard >Keyboards.
Swipe left on Emoji
Tap Delete
This reveals a red delete button. Once deleted restart your iPhone.
Then, follow this process to add the emoji keyboard back again
Go to Settings > General > Keyboard
Tap Add New Keyboard
Choose Emoji
What to Do if You Can’t Add Back the Emoji Keyboard
If the steps haven’t helped so far, try the troubleshooting tips below. It’s looking like there’s an issue in your software causing the problem.
Update Your Operating Software
The emoji keyboard has been around for years, so it shouldn’t make much difference in which iOS version your iPhone is running.
However, if those grinning yellow faces are still missing from your iPhone, it’s best to ensure you’re up to date.
We’re running the latest software here at Apple ToolBox and we found updating helps solve a lot of problems including no emojis!
Check you’re on the latest iOS by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
Reset Your iPhone Software
If you’re still without emojis, the final option is to reset your iPhone software. There are two options for doing this that we’ll explain below.
It’s strongly recommended that you make a backup of your iPhone first.
Go to Settings > General > Reset
Select one of the two options:
Reset All Settings
Erase All Content and Settings
Reset All Settings
This option keeps all apps, photos, videos, etc. on your iPhone and return the settings back to default.
It’s the best one to try first since it doesn’t delete any of your content.
It’s a sure-fire way to get the emoji keyboard back on your iPhone, but you will need to restore it from a backup afterward.
Well, that’s all there is to know. Let us know in the comments below if this post helped you and share it with anyone else who may be struggling through life without their emojis.
Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.
This tutorial on how to fix my emoji keyboard absolutely helped, although I did have to go all the way through and do the last suggestion of resetting my phone. I was afraid it wouldn’t help because my emoji keyboard WAS still showing, but I had suddenly lost SOME of my favorite emojis. They just disappeared. I still don’t know why this happened, except that it did happen right after I had had a couple of updates. I wish if we were going to have updates, we would not have to go back into the phone afterwards and “fix” it back! That seems like it defeats one of the purposes for an “update!” It’s like an oximoron! Thankfully, the tutorial showed me exactly how to reset my phone without losing any of my photos, etc!! Resetting my phone DID fix my emojis. I also appreciate that there is a way to fix these things on my own so I do not have to go into the crowded store and expose myself to COVID! That is a huge bonus, so thank you very much for providing this service!
Great advice.
In order to use the emoji when I’m typing texts, I have to hold it down to access it. Otherwise, there is a globe. Is there a way to just have the emoji on my screen when I’m typing texts instead of having the globe?
Thank you.
Hi,
How are you? Well I hope!
I have a question about a certain ad that won’t go away. It is regarding background checks. Do you have any advice?
Claire Powell
If you have an advert that won’t go away and it’s in Safari, follow these steps:
1) Close the Safari app by double-pressing the home button or swiping up from the bottom to reveal the app switcher. Locate Safari’s app preview, then swipe it off the top of your screen to close it
2) Open Settings > Safari and scroll down to Advanced
3) Choose Website Data and wait for the info to populate
4) Tap remove All Website Data and confirm with Remove Now
5) Go back to Settings > Safari
6) Tap Clear History and Website Data
7) Restart your device, then see if that advert is now gone
I am missing emojis which I had until the last day or two. The emoji keyboard is present but there are several missing, The one that I can readily identify is the musical notes (three quarter notes). Apparently there are others as I have several list lines with one, two, or three vacancies.
How do I install the missing emojis? I am fearful of reinstalling the keyboard.
Thank you! Holding down the globe worked for me. Once I held it down and selected emojis the emoji keyboard pops up with a regular tap and i can go back and forth between keyboards just like before.
Resetting all settings does not erase your device passcode.
If you’ve entered the wrong device passcode six times in a row, Apple automatically locks you out of your device. At that point, you should see the message that your iPhone is disabled.
Do you regularly back up your iDevice with iCloud or via a computer and iTunes or Finder? If so, your best option is to erase your iPhone using a computer or with recovery mode, then set up a new device passcode and restore your data and settings from the backup.
THANKS. This helped restore my factory emojis, but I can’t delete the horrible HUGE emojis that were added to my phone along with an update. Any idea how I can do that and still keep my old emojis?
I GOT IT! The HUGE emojis are called “stickers”. I deleted them by moving from the ‘general’ to the ‘keyboard’ settings and turning the “Memoji Stickers” option OFF there.
Emoji appears in Keyboard, but it’s dead (this is day 2 without emojis (sad face here).
I’ve deleted and restored emoji in keyboard.
I’ve deleted bitmoji, but Emoji did not become active (but is still listed in the keyboard)
I’ve turned on ‘Predicted’ and reset Keyboard dictionary.
What is next?
Since the last update (iOS 13.3) I have issues on my keyboards on both my iPhone 6S and my iPad. On my phone, it keeps returning to French as the default keyboard. Sometimes that is the only keyboard I can get. Sometimes, if I keep hitting the globe icon, I can get Bitmoji to come up. I can never seem to get either English, my actual default, or emojis.
I’ve followed all the quick fixes I could find. I am reluctant to do a whole reset.
On the iPad, I can get most keyboards but I have to keep hitting the icon multiple times before I get to the one I want to use. Sometimes, it just gets stuck on one keyboard and refuses to change.
IOS 13.3 has removed my emoji app, therefore cannot re-add to my keyboard. I have downloaded just about every emoji app in the store and added to my keyboard but they have all been strange so I deleted them.
Please advise which app to download, I miss my emoji’s 🙁 sad face
Are the native Apple emojis not working? Go to Settings > General > Keyboards > Keyboards and check if Emoji is listed. If not, tap Add New Keyboard and look for Emoji on that list.
In an app that supports the keyboard (Mail, Messages), press the globe or smiley face icon until a pop-up menu appears with keyboard options. Select Emoji and start using them!
If your emoji app was a third-party app that no longer is supported, then the best advice we can give you is to open the App Store and search for emoji for iPhone (or iPad/iPod) and read through user reviews to see if they meet your needs and what other users have to say.
In the on-screen keyboard, press the globe or smiley face icon and hold down for a second or two (depending on the iPhone model, these icons might appear inside the keyboard or just below it). Wait for a pop-up menu to appear and then choose emoji
Vicki Holmessays
Did all of this twice! Still gone and replaced my iPhone 8 for a new one (not because the emoji are missing lol) still no emoji! I have Bitmoji though. Help!!!
I tried the suggestions to get my emoji key back on my keyboard since the 13.2 update. No luck. I won’t be resetting to factory settings. Please help. I want my emoji and emoji button to return.
I have an iPhone 7 I’ve had a week and it’s operating on 13.1.3, I cannot get the predictive emojis up on messenger or Facebook when commenting, I’ve tried all the suggestions, keyboard, updating software and resetting and it’s still not working……please help it’s driving me bonkers!!
OK, I finally figured it out. For my phone, I would hit the icon (world globe??) to toggle between the Bitmoji and the Emoji keyboard. Now I just hold down the icon and it brings up a list of all my keyboards, and I select one.
Bingo!!! You are correct!!! Thank you. Hold the “world icon” down for a second or two and magically a pop-up menu appears. Select Emoji and you’re good to go. Many thanks, this was driving me nuts (it was a short drive, but still 🙂 <— See?
I downloaded the newest version on my phone which gave you the Memoji app and I was in the process of trying to set it up and I think I accidentally hit a wrong button which deleted that app that is within the Messenger app how do I get it back
Emojis have disappeared from iPad text messages and replaced with a bunch of icons, such as App Store, Zillo, Google, etc. I have tried adding a new keyboard through settings, following the instructions. Theee is an emoji option listed under keyboard, but clicking it has no effect. I’ve rebooted the iPad, but this did nothing. My iPad is always updated.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
This tutorial on how to fix my emoji keyboard absolutely helped, although I did have to go all the way through and do the last suggestion of resetting my phone. I was afraid it wouldn’t help because my emoji keyboard WAS still showing, but I had suddenly lost SOME of my favorite emojis. They just disappeared. I still don’t know why this happened, except that it did happen right after I had had a couple of updates. I wish if we were going to have updates, we would not have to go back into the phone afterwards and “fix” it back! That seems like it defeats one of the purposes for an “update!” It’s like an oximoron! Thankfully, the tutorial showed me exactly how to reset my phone without losing any of my photos, etc!! Resetting my phone DID fix my emojis. I also appreciate that there is a way to fix these things on my own so I do not have to go into the crowded store and expose myself to COVID! That is a huge bonus, so thank you very much for providing this service!
All of the emojis I had customized that sort of looked like me, are gone!!!
It works!
Thanks for your suggestions. It took resetting all to recover my emojis!
Great advice.
In order to use the emoji when I’m typing texts, I have to hold it down to access it. Otherwise, there is a globe. Is there a way to just have the emoji on my screen when I’m typing texts instead of having the globe?
Thank you.
Hi,
How are you? Well I hope!
I have a question about a certain ad that won’t go away. It is regarding background checks. Do you have any advice?
Claire Powell
Hi Claire,
If you have an advert that won’t go away and it’s in Safari, follow these steps:
1) Close the Safari app by double-pressing the home button or swiping up from the bottom to reveal the app switcher. Locate Safari’s app preview, then swipe it off the top of your screen to close it
2) Open Settings > Safari and scroll down to Advanced
3) Choose Website Data and wait for the info to populate
4) Tap remove All Website Data and confirm with Remove Now
5) Go back to Settings > Safari
6) Tap Clear History and Website Data
7) Restart your device, then see if that advert is now gone
Hope so!
Liz
I am missing emojis which I had until the last day or two. The emoji keyboard is present but there are several missing, The one that I can readily identify is the musical notes (three quarter notes). Apparently there are others as I have several list lines with one, two, or three vacancies.
How do I install the missing emojis? I am fearful of reinstalling the keyboard.
Yes, I have updated my iPhone to 13.4.1
Thank you for your assistance, Kathy
Hi Kathryn,
You cannot currently install emojis one-by-one. Rather, you install or reinstall the entire keyboard at once.
Are you seeing a question mark or black square instead of the missing emojis or do they just not appear in the list of available emojis?
Thank you! Holding down the globe worked for me. Once I held it down and selected emojis the emoji keyboard pops up with a regular tap and i can go back and forth between keyboards just like before.
I reset all settings now I can’t get past this as I don’t remember my passcode. Now what? I went from one problem to another. HELP!!!
Hi Sharon,
Resetting all settings does not erase your device passcode.
If you’ve entered the wrong device passcode six times in a row, Apple automatically locks you out of your device. At that point, you should see the message that your iPhone is disabled.
Do you regularly back up your iDevice with iCloud or via a computer and iTunes or Finder? If so, your best option is to erase your iPhone using a computer or with recovery mode, then set up a new device passcode and restore your data and settings from the backup.
Check out options for when you forgot a device’s passcode in this article: Forgot iPhone/iPad passcode? How to reset your passcode
THANKS. This helped restore my factory emojis, but I can’t delete the horrible HUGE emojis that were added to my phone along with an update. Any idea how I can do that and still keep my old emojis?
I GOT IT! The HUGE emojis are called “stickers”. I deleted them by moving from the ‘general’ to the ‘keyboard’ settings and turning the “Memoji Stickers” option OFF there.
Emoji appears in Keyboard, but it’s dead (this is day 2 without emojis (sad face here).
I’ve deleted and restored emoji in keyboard.
I’ve deleted bitmoji, but Emoji did not become active (but is still listed in the keyboard)
I’ve turned on ‘Predicted’ and reset Keyboard dictionary.
What is next?
Hi. It is the opposite, the emojis disappeared after un update. I can’t find them back
This easy tutorial was very helpful. Thank you.
Hi. I didn’t even have to go through all the steps. Just holding down the world icon brought my emojis back. Thanks!!
Thanks, I did not want to reset my phone. That worked
WOW! This worked! Thank you!
This did the trick!!
Since the last update (iOS 13.3) I have issues on my keyboards on both my iPhone 6S and my iPad. On my phone, it keeps returning to French as the default keyboard. Sometimes that is the only keyboard I can get. Sometimes, if I keep hitting the globe icon, I can get Bitmoji to come up. I can never seem to get either English, my actual default, or emojis.
I’ve followed all the quick fixes I could find. I am reluctant to do a whole reset.
On the iPad, I can get most keyboards but I have to keep hitting the icon multiple times before I get to the one I want to use. Sometimes, it just gets stuck on one keyboard and refuses to change.
IOS 13.3 has removed my emoji app, therefore cannot re-add to my keyboard. I have downloaded just about every emoji app in the store and added to my keyboard but they have all been strange so I deleted them.
Please advise which app to download, I miss my emoji’s 🙁 sad face
Hi Sophia,
Are the native Apple emojis not working? Go to Settings > General > Keyboards > Keyboards and check if Emoji is listed. If not, tap Add New Keyboard and look for Emoji on that list.
In an app that supports the keyboard (Mail, Messages), press the globe or smiley face icon until a pop-up menu appears with keyboard options. Select Emoji and start using them!
If your emoji app was a third-party app that no longer is supported, then the best advice we can give you is to open the App Store and search for emoji for iPhone (or iPad/iPod) and read through user reviews to see if they meet your needs and what other users have to say.
Liz
I am having the same issue
I am having the same issue. I can see the Emoji keyboard name in my settings along with the other keyboards but no arrow showing it is on
I have the same problem. I was sending messages the other day and my emoji keyboard vanished
In the on-screen keyboard, press the globe or smiley face icon and hold down for a second or two (depending on the iPhone model, these icons might appear inside the keyboard or just below it). Wait for a pop-up menu to appear and then choose emoji
Did all of this twice! Still gone and replaced my iPhone 8 for a new one (not because the emoji are missing lol) still no emoji! I have Bitmoji though. Help!!!
I tried the suggestions to get my emoji key back on my keyboard since the 13.2 update. No luck. I won’t be resetting to factory settings. Please help. I want my emoji and emoji button to return.
I have an iPhone 7 I’ve had a week and it’s operating on 13.1.3, I cannot get the predictive emojis up on messenger or Facebook when commenting, I’ve tried all the suggestions, keyboard, updating software and resetting and it’s still not working……please help it’s driving me bonkers!!
Still no emojis. I am so very very bummed
Hi Jeannette,
Your device should have emojis, if nothing is working please contact Apple Support and explain the problem as well as the steps you already tried.
OK, I finally figured it out. For my phone, I would hit the icon (world globe??) to toggle between the Bitmoji and the Emoji keyboard. Now I just hold down the icon and it brings up a list of all my keyboards, and I select one.
Bingo!!! You are correct!!! Thank you. Hold the “world icon” down for a second or two and magically a pop-up menu appears. Select Emoji and you’re good to go. Many thanks, this was driving me nuts (it was a short drive, but still 🙂 <— See?
I downloaded the newest version on my phone which gave you the Memoji app and I was in the process of trying to set it up and I think I accidentally hit a wrong button which deleted that app that is within the Messenger app how do I get it back
Hi Mike,
You likely hide the Memoji stickers from displaying in your Messages app drawer.
Luckily, it’s really easy to get back!
1) Open Messages
2) Select a message thread
3) Press and hold on the app drawer until the icons get bigger
4) Scroll all the way to the right and tap the More button (looks like three dots)
5) Tap Edit
6) Scroll down to locate Memoji Stickers under More Apps and press the green plus sign (+) to add to your app drawer favorites
That should do the trick. If not, let us know.
Liz
I can’t figure out how to get my emoji keyboard back that’s I have accidentally deleted while I was deleting other keyboards.
I tried all the steps but I don’t want to reset my phone because it will get rid of everything.
How do I get it back?
Hi Grace,
First, restart your iPhone or iPad by powering it off, waiting 20 seconds, then powering back on.
Next, go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keybaords.
Select Add New Keyboard and select Emoji from the list (scroll down to locate it).
That should do the trick!
Have tried above and added new keyboard emoji but still no emojis on my keyboard. Using iOS 12.2
HELP.
Hi Robert,
Are you not seeing ANY emojis or just not the new emojis?
First, add the emoji keyboard as discussed in the article, then close all open apps and once all apps close, restart the device.
After it restarts, see if emojis now show up!
To close apps:
On an iPhone or iPad with no home button, from the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen.
On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with a home button, double-click the Home button to show your most recently used apps
Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close.
Swipe up on the app’s preview to close the app.
I was able to get the emoji keyboard back onto my husband’s iPhone XR with these instructions (using the reset all settings info). Thanks!
Emojis have disappeared from iPad text messages and replaced with a bunch of icons, such as App Store, Zillo, Google, etc. I have tried adding a new keyboard through settings, following the instructions. Theee is an emoji option listed under keyboard, but clicking it has no effect. I’ve rebooted the iPad, but this did nothing. My iPad is always updated.