How to type kaomoji on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac

How do I type kaomoji on iPhone?

Add the Japanese Kana keyboard. It has a ^_^ key that opens a list of kaomoji, and you don't need to read Japanese to use it.

1. Open Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard.
2. Choose Japanese, tick Kana and tap Done.
3. In any text field, tap the globe key until the Kana keyboard shows up.
4. Tap the ^_^ key. Faces appear in the suggestion bar — tap the arrow at its right end to see the whole list, then tap a face to insert it.

How do I make a shortcut for one kaomoji on iPhone?

Use Text Replacement: you type a short word and the iPhone offers the face. It works with any keyboard and syncs to your Mac through iCloud.

1. Copy the face you want (tap it on this site).
2. Open Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and tap +.
3. Paste the face into Phrase and type a short word into Shortcut, for example shrug.
4. Now type shrug anywhere: the face appears in the suggestion bar, and the space bar puts it in.

How do I type kaomoji on Android?

In Gboard, Google's keyboard, open the emoji panel and switch to the :-) tab. It holds a few hundred kaomoji sorted by mood. Many other keyboards, Samsung Keyboard included, have a similar tab inside their emoji panel.

1. Tap the smiley key (or long-press the comma key or the Enter key, depending on the layout).
2. At the bottom of the emoji panel, tap the :-) tab.
3. Pick a mood at the top and tap a face to insert it.

How do I make a shortcut for one kaomoji on Android?

Gboard's personal dictionary does the same job as iPhone Text Replacement: save the face with a shortcut and it shows up as a suggestion when you type the shortcut.

1. Open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and choose your language.
2. Tap +, paste the face as the word and type a short shortcut.
3. Type the shortcut and tap the face in the suggestion strip.

How do I type kaomoji on Windows?

Press the Windows key and . (period) together. The emoji panel opens; its ;-) tab is a kaomoji list. This works in Windows 11 and in Windows 10 since the May 2019 update.

1. Click where you want the face.
2. Press Windows + . (or Windows + ;).
3. Click the ;-) tab and click a face.

How do I type kaomoji on Mac?

macOS has no kaomoji tab, so the quickest way is a text replacement. Faces you add on the iPhone appear here too when both devices use the same Apple Account.

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard and click Text Replacements….
2. Click +, type a short word under Replace and paste the face under With.
3. Type the word in any app; macOS offers the face, and Space puts it in.

Why do people still copy and paste kaomoji?

The built-in lists are short and the same for everyone: a few dozen to a few hundred faces, and no multi-line ASCII art at all. The characters that give kaomoji their character — ω, ᴥ, ʖ, ┻━┻ and the rest — are not on any phone keyboard.

So most people copy the face from a list once and keep it as a shortcut or a favorite. Every category page on this site is such a list: tap a face and it is already on your clipboard. The free Kawasuta app has the same faces offline, with favorites and recently used faces.