iPhone: Enable Emoji (Emoticons) for £0.59, no hackery needed

I’ve always had a bit of a debate with myself over emoticons – even gone through a stage of completely hating them – but ever since I started working using AIM every day to communicate with colleagues, I’ve come to the conclusion they can actually be useful (for example, to give tone of voice to a comment that could be misinterpreted over text-only communication like Instant messaging.)

When the iPhone software update including ‘Emoji’ was announced, I was quite pleased – an extra facet to e-mail and SMS on the iPhone. However, I was soon disappointed to learn that this was a feature only enabled on Japanese handsets, as Emoji is so prevalent in modern Japanese phones.

However, thanks to UneasySilence’s article, I’ve enabled this on my iPhone thanks to a 59p application called Frostyplace. No hackery required!

Walkthrough

1. Search the App store for 'Frostyplace. The app is an RSS and comment browser for a Japanese media site'

1. Search the App store for ‘Frostyplace. The app is an RSS and comment browser for a Japanese media site
2. Install the app - it's only £0.59 at time of writing.

2. Install the app – it’s only £0.59 at time of writing.
3. Launch the app - tap the splash screen to continue.

3. Launch the app – tap the splash screen to continue.
4. The important part of this process: browse through entries, and particularly the comments (hit the speech bubble icon at the bottom) - you need to view an item with an Emoji, that in plain text look like :shock:, :blah: or similar. Looking through entries for a minute or so should guarantee triggering the preference.

4. The important part of this process: browse through entries, and particularly the comments (hit the speech bubble icon at the bottom) – you need to view an item with an Emoji, that in plain text look like :shock: , :blah: or similar, in amongst the Japanese Kanji. Looking through entries for a minute or so should guarantee triggering the preference.
5. Open your 'Settings' on the iPhone and tap 'General'.

5. Open your ‘Settings’ on the iPhone and tap ‘General’.
6. Scroll down and tap 'International'

6. Scroll down and tap ‘International’
7. Choose 'Keyboards'

7. Choose ‘Keyboards’
8. Scroll down and select 'Japanese'

8. Scroll down and select ‘Japanese’
9. Now that you've browsed entires in Frostyplace that contain Emoji, a new 'Emoji On/Off' option is available to you. Switch this on.

9. Now that you’ve browsed entires in Frostyplace that contain Emoji, a new ‘Emoji On/Off’ option is available to you. Switch this on.
10. Now your keyboard in SMS and E-mail has a little globe icon in the bottom left. Tap this to bring up the Emoji menu.

10. Now your keyboard in SMS and E-mail has a little globe icon in the bottom left. Tap this to bring up the Emoji menu.

11. The Emoji menu has several pages you can swipe through per category - the first category (with a clock icon) is you recently used Emoji.

11. The Emoji menu has several pages you can swipe through per category – the first category (with a clock icon) is you recently used Emoji.

12. Profit! The Emoji you send appear even on iPhones that don't have it enabled. I'm yet to work out what other phones and devices support Emoji at present.

12. Profit! The Emoji you send appear even on iPhones that don’t have it enabled. I’m yet to work out what other phones and devices support Emoji at present.


Credit: I read UneasySilence’s short but sweet article but I wanted to do a walk-through. Seems like this is old news, but I certainly hadn’t heard about it!

- Posted on 25. 01. 2009.