Emojis have become an integral part of digital communication. From expressing emotions to conveying information, these pictographs add color and fun to online conversations. However, you may have noticed that the same emoji looks different on different platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc. So why does this happen? Let’s find out.
Reason 1: Different Emoji Designs
The primary reason why emojis look different on WhatsApp is that WhatsApp uses its own custom emoji designs. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, so it uses emoji designs from Facebook’s in-house emoji library. Other platforms like Twitter, Samsung, LG etc have their own proprietary emoji designs. For example, the smiling face emoji looks slightly different on WhatsApp vs Twitter.
These different companies have their own teams of designers who create emojis in their unique style. The emojis are designed keeping in mind the brand identity and aesthetics preferred by the company. So an emoji that showcases WhatsApp’s fun-loving personality may look quite different from the professional looking emoji from LinkedIn.
Table 1: Difference in emoji designs
| Platform | Smiling Face Emoji |
|---|---|
As you can see in the table above, the smiling emoji looks noticeably different on WhatsApp compared to Twitter owing to the proprietary emoji designs.
Reason 2: Different Emoji Versions
Another reason for the emoji discrepancy is that different platforms use different emoji versions. There is an independent body called the Unicode Consortium which approves and standardizes emojis to be used across platforms. When new emojis are approved, software platforms are free to implement them on their own schedule. This leads to a disparity where older platforms still use the old emoji version while newer platforms adopt the latest emoji version.
For example, Twitter supports the latest emoji 13.1 version while WhatsApp is still on emoji 12.0. So the transgender flag emoji and smiling face with tear emoji look updated on Twitter but old school on WhatsApp. WhatsApp takes time to update all its apps on iOS and Android to the latest emoji version. Such version differences cause the same emoji to look inconsistent across apps.
Table 2: Emoji version differences
| Platform | Emoji Version |
|---|---|
| 12.0 | |
| 13.1 |
As displayed in the table, Twitter uses a more updated emoji set compared to WhatsApp leading to visual inconsistencies.
Reason 3: Different Rendering
Apart from design and version differences, the way emojis are rendered also causes visual inconsistencies across platforms. Each operating system has its own emoji font and rendering engine to display the emojis on screen. The emoji fonts vary in shape, size, color, detailing etc. leading the same emoji to look noticeably different when rendered on iOS vs Android vs Windows.
For example, the grinning face emoji looks sharp on Windows but more rounded on a Mac. Similarly, the robot emoji looks flatter and more cartoonish on Android than iOS. Such rendering differences cause the emoji designs to change appearance further contributing to the lack of consistency across apps and devices.
Table 3: Emoji rendering differences
| Platform | Grinning Face Emoji |
|---|---|
| iOS | |
| Android |
As evident in the examples above, the same grinning emoji looks quite different when rendered on iOS vs Android OS.
Reason 4: Lack of Emoji Standardization
There is no single authoritative standard for emoji designs and presentation. The Unicode standard only provides guidelines on the rough meaning and orientation of emojis leaving the actual appearance flexible. This lack of firm standardization results in inconsistency across vendors. Each platform takes liberties with emojis to match their own style leading to chaos and confusion.
For example, the unlocked emoji is oriented left on WhatsApp but right on Twitter. Without a proper standard in place, platforms are free to interpret emojis their own way. The Unicode Consortium has attempted to bring order by releasing emoji choreography that demonstrates how emojis should be facing. But these are only recommendations and not enforceable rules.
Table 4: Unlocked emoji orientation differences
| Platform | Unlocked Emoji |
|---|---|
The lack of proper standardization results in haphazard differences as shown via the unlocked emoji above.
Reason 5: User Perception
Apart from technical reasons, the perceived differences in emojis across platforms also arise from user biases. Human perception and interpretation play a key role in how emojis are seen. Users are accustomed to the emoji designs on platforms they use frequently like WhatsApp. When they encounter even slightly different renditions on another platform, it is instantly noticed.
Our brains excel at pattern recognition. Once we are habituated to something, small deviations are amplified and perceived as bigger differences than they really are. For someone used to WhatsApp emojis, the Twitter emoji set seems strikingly different, even if objectively the variations may not seem major. User perception amplifies minimal design and rendering differences between emoji platforms.
Strategies to Reduce Emoji Discrepancy
While there are valid technical and perceptual reasons for emoji irregularity, steps can be taken to increase emoji consistency:
- Platforms should aim to support the latest emoji versions quickly after approval. WhatsApp especially should accelerate its emoji update schedule.
- Guidelines by Unicode for emoji orientation and presentation should be made more firm to reduce improper interpretations.
- Operating systems can collaborate for an industry-standard emoji font that maintains uniformity across devices.
- Users should recognize that small differences due to perception may not imply technically distinct emojis.
- Testing across platforms for emoji rendering should be done by developers before release.
Conclusion
To conclude, emojis appear different across apps like WhatsApp due to variety in proprietary designs, Unicode versions, OS rendering engines and lack of standardization. Perceptual biases also amplify small discrepancies. While uniformity across the emoji-verse may not be possible, steps can be taken to improve consistency and reduce confusion. With emojis being an integral part of digital chat, understanding why they look different helps us use them better while communicating.