How to Use Emoji Search on the iPhone & iPad

By Leanne Hays Updated 02/03/2021

iPad and iPhone emojis are a great way to add a little flair to messages and other text you type in the Messages app, or any other app that lets you use your iPad or iPhone keyboard. Now, with iOS 14, Apple has made iOS emojis easier to find and use than ever before with the new emoji search feature. Let's learn how to use this emoji finder to quickly locate the emoji you want on your emoji keyboard.

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How to Quickly Find the iPhone Emojis You Want with Emoji Search

I'm going to use the Messages app for this tutorial, but emoji search also works in other apps where you use your iPhone keyboard, including Mail, Notes, Facebook, and more. We've already shown you how to find and use the GIF keyboard on your iPhone and iPad to add GIFs to messages. Now, let's learn how to use the emoji search feature to add emojis to the text you type on your iPhone and iPad.

Open the Messages app (or another app where you want to type and use emojis).
Open an existing text thread or start a new message, then tap the smiley face in the lower-left corner of your screen.
Type the emoji you want into the Search Emoji field.
Tap the emoji to choose it.
Tap back into the text field to continue adding text, or simply hit send.

And there you go; no more scrolling through tons of emojis to find the one you want!

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Top image credit: leungchopan / Shutterstock.com

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Author Details

Leanne Hays

Leanne Hays is an SEO Content Strategist and Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and has written hundreds of in-depth how-to and troubleshooting articles. She's a former Associate Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and has written for the Iowa Source, as well as web content for education marketing. Leanne has an associate's degree in education, with a focus on curriculum development, as well as a bachelor's degree in science. She has over nine years of experience with SEO, social media management, and web development and writing. Despite years of web work, Leanne is by no means an early adapter; she's only owned a smartphone for five years, which makes her highly sympathetic to the learning curve of new iPhone owners. She enjoys making reader's lives easier and putting her education experience to work by walking them through the most practical ways to use Apple devices, step-by-step.

In off-work hours, Leanne is a mother of two, homesteader, audiobook fanatic, musician, and learning enthusiast.