The round emoji button in the bottom left corner, under the keys, opens the panel. While you type, emoji that fit the word show up in the bar above the keys.
01 · The panel
- Recent, the first group: every emoji you have used, from the panel, the search or the bar, the latest first. The panel opens on it once there is anything in it.
- Groups in a row at the top: smileys, people, animals, food, travel, activities, objects, symbols, flags. Tap one to jump to it, or scroll through all of them.
- Search emoji at the top: type a word and the grid narrows to the emoji whose name or keywords contain it.
- ABC brings the letters back, delete removes the last emoji.
02 · From the keys
- While typing a word, the bar shows the emoji that match it: sad, lol, cat. Tap one to insert it, keep typing to ignore them.
- A colon before the word, :facepalm, searches by name from the keyboard itself, without opening the panel; the × in the bar clears it.
The names and keywords come from the gemoji list (see Open source); the pictures are your phone’s own emoji.