About Emoticon.io
Emoticon.io is an independent reference and toolset for text-based expression, built and maintained by John Sorrentino. It includes 169 named Western-style faces and symbols plus 207 kaomoji, with tools to inspect or build your own.
How the collection is organized
Entries are grouped by the expression or use they most commonly suggest. Names and emoji equivalents are descriptive aids, not formal Unicode names and not claims that two symbols have identical meaning. Context, community, and tone can change an expression.
Classic sideways faces such as :-) can be ASCII-only. Upright faces and kaomoji such as (◕‿◕) often combine punctuation with characters borrowed from several writing systems and symbol blocks. We keep that distinction visible because it affects copying and compatibility.
Custom builder
Combine visible parts and copy the result as plain text, escaped HTML, a JavaScript string, or a code-point sequence.
Character analyzer
Reveal UTF-16 pairs, combining marks, normalization changes, and invisible or directional formatting characters.
Compatibility notes
No text face is guaranteed to look identical everywhere. A destination app chooses the font, width, line height, fallback glyphs, and sometimes automatic emoji replacement. Rare symbols may appear as an empty box on older devices. Multi-line art can also break when an app collapses spaces or uses a proportional font.
For code and markup, the visible character count may differ from JavaScript string length. Characters outside the Basic Multilingual Plane use a UTF-16 surrogate pair, and a single visible glyph may include multiple code points. The analyzer reports both counts instead of calling either one a universal “character” count.
Privacy and local storage
Favorites, recent choices, and your preferred copy format are stored in your browser's local storage. The builder and character analyzer run in the page and do not upload the text you enter. The site also uses analytics and may display advertising; the privacy policy explains those separate services and controls.
Corrections
If an entry is mislabeled, duplicates another face, contains an unexpected invisible character, or is culturally misattributed, please send the page URL and correction. Specific examples make the collection safer and more accurate.
Collection and methodology last reviewed: August 7, 2026.