What is a kaomoji?
Kaomoji (顔文字, "face characters") are Japanese emoticons built from letters and symbols, like (^_^) or (≧▽≦). Unlike emoji they are plain text, so they look the same on every phone and never get replaced by a picture.
Kaomoji vs emoji — what's the difference?
Emoji are pictures with a Unicode code point; kaomoji are text. You can put a kaomoji in a username, a code comment or an SMS.
How do I type kaomoji on iPhone or Android?
Most of the characters aren't on a phone keyboard, which is why copy-and-paste apps like this one exist. Tap a face, then paste it anywhere.
Why does a kaomoji look different on my friend's phone?
Each phone uses its own fonts. Simple faces are identical everywhere; rare characters may fall back to a slightly different glyph but stay readable.
What does (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ mean, and how do I type it?
It's the table flip: a person throwing a table in frustration, usually as a joke. Nobody types it — copy it from the Angry category and paste. The reverse ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ) puts the table back.
What does (´・ω・`) mean?
It's a slightly sad, shy face — the ω is a small pouting mouth and the ´ ` are drooping eyes. Japanese users read it as "aww" or "sorry"; a happier cousin is (・ω・).
Kaomoji, emoticon or emoji — which word is right?
Emoticon is the general word for faces made of characters, like :-) . Kaomoji are the Japanese kind, read upright rather than sideways. Emoji are the coloured pictures. This site has kaomoji and ASCII art, not emoji.
Why do some kaomoji show as boxes □ or question marks?
The phone's fonts don't include that character, so it draws a placeholder. It happens most with rare eyes and decorations. Simple faces made of brackets, dots and ω never break; Discord and Slack also keep multi-line ASCII art when you paste it as a code block.
Is the app free?
Yes. It's ad-supported, with a one-time purchase to remove ads.