Emoji Family

How to Copy and Paste Emojis on iPhone

March 9, 2026

iPhones make it easy to use emojis in messages, notes, emails, and more. Here's everything you need to know about copying and pasting emojis on iPhone.

Using the iPhone Emoji Keyboard

The iPhone has a built-in emoji keyboard available in any app that accepts text input.

  1. Tap any text field to open the keyboard.
  2. Tap the smiley face icon in the bottom-left corner of the keyboard. If you have multiple keyboards enabled, it may show as a globe icon: tap it to switch to the emoji keyboard.
  3. Browse emojis by scrolling through categories at the bottom, or tap the search bar (magnifying glass icon) to search by keyword.
  4. Tap an emoji to insert it at the cursor.

Frequently Used Emojis

The first row of the emoji keyboard shows your most recently used emojis, so the ones you reach for most often are always at the top.

How to Copy an Emoji on iPhone

To copy an emoji from a text message, webpage, or app:

  1. Long-press (press and hold) on the emoji.
  2. A context menu will appear; tap Copy.
  3. Navigate to wherever you want to paste it.
  4. Long-press the text field and tap Paste, or use the iOS paste shortcut.

Copying Emojis from a Website

If you find an emoji on a website like Emoji Family's copy and paste page:

  • Single tap copies the emoji to your clipboard automatically (on sites that support it).
  • Or long-press and select Copy from the menu.

Then open any app (Messages, Mail, Notes, etc.), long-press the text field, and tap Paste.

How to Search for Emoji on iPhone

iOS 14 and later added emoji search directly in the keyboard:

  1. Open the emoji keyboard.
  2. Tap the search bar at the top.
  3. Type a keyword, for example, "party", "heart", or "dog".
  4. Tap the emoji to insert it.

Tips for Using Emojis on iPhone

  • Dictation works too: Use the microphone button and say "smiley face emoji"; Siri will often insert the correct emoji.
  • Shake to undo: If you accidentally insert the wrong emoji, shake your iPhone to undo.
  • Multiple emojis: Tap several emojis in a row without closing the keyboard to add them in sequence.
  • Emoji suggestions: When you type a word like "pizza", iOS may suggest the 🍕 emoji in the QuickType bar above the keyboard; tap it to replace the word with the emoji.

Emoji Skin Tones on iPhone

For people emojis that support skin tones:

  1. Long-press the emoji on the keyboard.
  2. A skin tone picker will appear.
  3. Slide to select your preferred tone.
  4. The selected skin tone becomes the default for that emoji going forward.

Where to Find More Emojis

The iPhone keyboard includes all standard Unicode emojis, but if you want to browse with better search or copy emojis to use on your computer too, Emoji Family's copy and paste page lets you find and copy any of the 3,000+ emojis instantly.