How to Change the Color of an Emoji: A Complete Guide

Emoji skin tones, colored hearts, and customizable icons have become a standard part of digital communication — but the way you change them isn't always obvious. Whether you're trying to match a human emoji to your skin tone or swap a colored symbol on a different platform, the process varies depending on where and how you're typing. Here's exactly how it works.

Why Emoji Colors Are Customizable (and What That Actually Means)

Not all emoji colors work the same way. There are two distinct types of color customization:

1. Skin tone modifiers — Applied to human-based emoji (hands, faces, people, professions). These use a Unicode standard called the Fitzpatrick scale, which defines six skin tone options ranging from light to dark.

2. Fixed-color emoji — Things like colored hearts ❤️🧡💛, circles, or squares, where each color is technically a separate emoji character rather than a modified version of one.

Understanding which type you're working with determines what's actually possible.

How to Change Skin Tone on Emoji

This is the most common type of emoji color change, and it works across iOS, Android, Windows, and most major platforms.

On iPhone and iPad (iOS)

1. Open any app with a keyboard (Messages, Notes, etc.)
2. Tap the emoji icon on the keyboard
3. Long-press any human-based emoji (a hand wave, thumbs up, person, etc.)
4. A skin tone selector will pop up with six options
5. Tap your preferred shade — it applies immediately

Your selection is also remembered for that specific emoji going forward.

On Android

The process is nearly identical, though the exact steps depend slightly on your keyboard app:

1. Open the emoji keyboard (tap the smiley face icon)
2. Long-press a supported human emoji
3. Select from the skin tone swatches that appear

Most Android keyboards — including Gboard and Samsung Keyboard — support this. Third-party keyboards may handle it differently or offer global skin tone settings in their preferences.

On Windows (PC)

1. Press Windows key + period (.) or Windows key + semicolon (;) to open the emoji panel
2. Click any supported emoji once to open a skin tone picker below it
3. Select your preferred tone

You can also set a default skin tone in the emoji panel settings, so it applies automatically every time.

On Mac (macOS)

1. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer
2. Find a human emoji, then click and hold (or right-click) to see skin tone options
3. Select your preferred shade

Changing Colored Hearts, Circles, and Other Fixed-Color Emoji 🎨

For emoji like hearts, moons, or geometric shapes, there's no modifier system — each color is a unique emoji. To "change the color," you simply pick the correct one from the emoji keyboard.

For example:

• ❤️ Red heart
• 🧡 Orange heart
• 💛 Yellow heart
• 💚 Green heart
• 💙 Blue heart
• 💜 Purple heart
• 🖤 Black heart
• 🤍 White heart
• 🩶 Grey heart
• 🩷 Pink heart

These are separate Unicode characters, so there's no long-press trick — just scroll to the right symbol.

Platform Differences That Affect What You See

One important variable: emoji appearance differs across platforms. Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and Meta each render emoji using their own visual designs. A skin tone you set on iOS will still transmit correctly as a Unicode modifier to Android — but it may look slightly different visually on the recipient's screen.

Emoji Color Changes in Apps Like Slack, Discord, and Teams

Many communication platforms have their own emoji pickers with built-in skin tone support:

• Slack: Click the emoji icon → hover over a human emoji → click the small arrow → choose a skin tone. A global preference is also available in your profile settings.
• Discord: Long-press or hover over emoji in the picker to reveal tone options.
• Microsoft Teams: The emoji picker includes a skin tone selector accessible via a small palette icon.

Some platforms also let you set a global default, so you don't have to select a tone every single time.

When Emoji Color Changes Don't Work

There are a few situations where you won't be able to change an emoji's color:

• The emoji doesn't support modifiers — Only human-coded emoji in the Unicode standard accept skin tone changes. Animals, objects, food, and weather emoji don't.
• Your OS or app version is outdated — Newer emoji and expanded skin tone support (like for handshake or family emoji) were added in later Unicode versions. Older software may not recognize them.
• Third-party keyboards without modifier support — Some lightweight or custom keyboards skip the long-press skin tone picker entirely.

The Variable That Changes Everything

How straightforward this process is depends heavily on your specific combination of device, operating system version, keyboard app, and the platform you're communicating on. A user on the latest iOS with the native Messages app has a seamless experience. A user on an older Android device using a niche third-party keyboard communicating through a web-based app may run into gaps.

The emoji standard itself is universal — but implementation is not. Your actual experience with color customization lives at the intersection of all those layers, and which ones apply to you shapes what's possible on your end.