Emojis can help you express your emotions, signal your social and political values and virtues, celebrate holidays and world events—and in today’s internet age, even land a date. 

Romantic emojis like the ❤️ Red Heart and 😘 Face Blowing a Kiss might be favorites of those people already in committed partnerships who are likely locking down their Valentine’s Day plans and acting lovey-dovey in their texts. 

But those chronically caught in the cycle of dating app swiping know that emojis of all different types can appear in the realm of early-stage, pre-relationship internet romance, both in public dating app profiles and bios and in the messages people exchange with matches who might become something more. 

Read on to learn about how emojis add character, color, and maybe even a spark to the digital dating experience.

☕ Emojis in Dating App Bios

Whereas eligible singles looking for love in past eras of history might have filled out an ad in the newspaper personals section, those putting themselves on the dating market have new tools at their disposal to talk about who they are, what they’re into, and what they’re looking for.

Anyone who has spent time endlessly swiping right on apps or sending likes on apps like Tinder or Hinge knows that dating app bios or written prompt answers are often chock-full of emojis that can help paint a picture of a potential partner—for better or worse.

In terms of the most popular emojis, a WordFinder study from 2022 found that the ✨ Sparkles, the 😂 Face with Tears of Joy, the 🤷 Person Shrugging, the 🍃 Leaf Fluttering in Wind, and the 🖤Black Heart were statistically most likely to make an appearance in someone’s Tinder bio.

That doesn’t mean these were the same emojis most likely to attract a match, however. The ones that elicited the most swipes to the right were the 😊 Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes, the 😍 Smiling Face with Heart Eyes, and the ☕ Hot Beverage. 

That’s in addition to the top-ranked emojis to make you seem “likable” in an online dating context—the 😘 Face Blowing a Kiss, the 🥰 Smiling Face With Hearts, and the 😍 Smiling Face With Heart Eyes—cited by an Adobe report from the same year.

And naturally, since there are more “attractive” emojis, there have to be ones that send other swipers running for the hills. The Adobe report ranked the 💩 Pile of Poo, perhaps unsurprisingly, as the most “unlikeable” emoji in an online dating context, followed by the 😠 Angry Face and the 🍆 Eggplant.

(A common theme in these studies and interviews was that overly euphemistically sexual emojis in dating app bios, like the 🍆 Eggplant, the 😈 Smiling Face with Horns, and the 👅 Tongue were much more likely to be red flags that would turn someone away rather than incite a swipe right.) 

Of course, if you’re active on the apps, you’re bound to see more than just these emojis on either end of the likeability spectrum.

From illustrating how people spend their time to their culinary and cultural tastes to the most important elements of their humanity, emojis are used in all sorts of ways in dating app profiles, bios, and prompt answers to help present match-minded hopefuls to their pool of prospects.

But be mindful of the fact that 15% of people in the aforementioned study found that a string of emojis in a dating app bio was a “red flag”; some would argue that emoji usage has its upper limits before it becomes too much.

Keep reading to learn about the various types of emojis you might see in someone’s dating app bio—or be inclined to include in your own.

🚴🏻 Emojis for Hobbies and Interests

It’s considered dating common knowledge that sharing common interests is a telltale sign of a potential relationship that might have, well, potential. Emojis are tried-and-true symbols to communicate hobbies, passions, pastimes, and pursuits to other digital daters.

For people who are athletic and sporty, emojis like the 🚴 Person Biking, the 🧗 Person Climbing, the 🎿 Skis, the 🧘 Person in Lotus Position, or the ⚽ Soccer Ball could be easy choices to share about their favorite higher-energy activities. Those who also like games and less sweat-inducing, cardio-spiking fun can also choose to express their recreational interests with emojis like the 🎮 Video Game, the 🎲 Game Die, or the 🎣 Fishing Pole, to name just a few.

Emojis related to travel, both to various destinations or to the act itself, are also popular choices for prospective daters to show what parts of themselves—and the world—they like to explore.

The ⛰️ Mountain, the 🏖️ Beach with Umbrella, the 🏙️ Cityscape, and the 🏕️ Camping emoji can all clue you in to where someone you see on a dating app might like to spend their vacation time or take a trip with a theoretical romantic interest. Putting an ✈️Airplane in your emoji bio could indicate that you love to jet off to the far reaches of the globe—or that you catch flights, not feelings. 

For music lovers, emojis like the 🎶 Musical Notes and 🎧 Headphone can be used to call yourself out as a certified audiophile and instrument emojis like the 🎻 Violin or the 🎹 Musical Keyboard can signal to other daters if you play something specific—which might also amplify your harmony if they think you might woo them with a swoon-worthy serenade.

Visual art creators or appreciators might opt for the 🎨 Artist Palette or the 🖼️ Framed Picture, with a 🎭 Performing Arts emoji perhaps taking the main stage for the theatre buffs and thespians of the online dating world.

Of course, of the dozens of emojis representing the wide world of sports, games, recreational, artistic, and leisure activities, these count for only a small sampling. But they show just how wide of a swath of emojis there are to give potential matches a snapshot of what ignites a fire of excitement, passion, and fun within you.

🍻EMOJIS FOR LIKES AND PREFERENCES

Food is a major emoji category that sees plenty of representation in dating app bio emojis since much of dating can revolve around culinary adventure and exploration—whether on a date over a fancy dinner or cooking a meal together. 

Classic food emojis you might see in dating profiles as users’ favorites include the 🍕 Pizza, the 🍔 Hamburger, the 🌮 Taco, the 🥯 Bagel, the 🍣 Sushi, or any other foods that make for light, casual date fare.

If you’ve got dietary restrictions, emojis can also help you convey what you do and don’t eat; the 🥩 Cut of Meat is a surefire way to identify a carnivore, and the 🥦 Broccoli, the 🥗 Green Salad, the 🥬 Leafy Green, or other green vegetable emojis are great ways to indicate if you prefer a vegan or vegetarian diet. 

Emojis can also help dating app users signal to others what kinds of habits, tendencies, and indulgences of potential partners are okay in their book.

People who consume alcohol might signal that they’re open to meeting over a drink or two with the 🍻 Clinking Beer Mugs, 🍷 Wine Glass, or 🍸 Cocktail Glass; on the contrary, putting a 🚫 Prohibited emoji before these libations could mean that you’d prefer to keep it sober.

Suppose you’re a nonsmoker, and that’s a definite dating dealbreaker. In that case, you might put the 🚭 No Smoking emoji on prominent display in your bio—or the 🚬 Cigarette if you have a regular smoking ritual or are partial to a puff here and there.

Preferring certain pets over others—or none at all—can sometimes be a major question of compatibility for potential partners who plan to spend time together—especially if allergies are involved. Putting a 🐈 Cat or a 🐕 Dog (or their respective cuter counterparts the 🐱 Cat Face and the 🐶 Dog Face) in your dating app bio can make clear what types of furry friends you have or want to adopt one day.

And then there are the emojis for preferences of another category—connections and aesthetics in body types for people looking for dating apps as a source of physical connection in addition to or instead of purely emotional and romantic.

In the gay dating world, specifically on apps like Grindr, emojis can be helpful symbols to signal one’s preferred sexual position or physical type to a potential partner and to make otherwise uncomfortable conversations less awkward. Popular choices include the 🐻 Bear and the 🦦Otter to describe two animal-inspired, self-identified body types of men, and the ⬆️ Up Arrow and ⬇️ Down Arrow to indicate one’s sexual position in an intimate encounter—a “top” or “bottom,” respectively. (We’ll leave it there, but those curious about the reasons for these names can learn more here.)

🏳️‍🌈 Emoji for Politics and Identity

When searching for a life partner, a casual affair, or something in between, many people find it important to align on issues that affect them, their communities, and the world. Politics can be a sensitive subject for many, so getting it out of the way by including a politically coded emoji in a dating app bio—similar to how people use emojis to convey their political beliefs in other internet spheres—can filter out any mismatches early on. 

For example, someone who supports Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion might include a 🇺🇦 Flag: Ukraine or a 🌻 Sunflower in their bio. Advocates of the Black Lives Matter movement could include a ✊🏾 Raised Fist: Medium-Dark Skin Tone or a ✊🏿 Raised Fist: Dark Skin Tone. For people who are passionate about the environment and climate change, any of the Earth emojis—the 🌎 Globe Showing Americas, the 🌏 Globe Showing Asia-Australia, or the 🌍Globe Showing Europe-Africa—or emojis like the 🌱 Seedling and the ♻️ Recycling Symbol can illustrate an eco-consciousness to the ecosystem of other online daters.

When it comes to questions of identity, many people understandably want to match with others who are like them or respect their self-expression. 

That’s why you’re likely to see a fair share of identity-based emojis in dating app profiles like the 🏳️‍🌈 Rainbow Flag to highlight gay or queer issues and identities (and, perhaps obviously, to point out that someone is seeking a same-sex partner), the 🏳️‍⚧️ Transgender Flag to illustrate that someone identifies as transgender or supports transgender rights, or the ♀️ Female Sign to indicate that a user cares about feminism and women’s issues.

Though arguably far less sociopolitical, astrology is an important factor for many in assessing compatibility; it’s why if you’re active in the online dating scene you might have seen one or more of the emojis for the 12 signs of the Western zodiac: 

• ♈ Aries
• ♉Taurus
• ♊ Gemini
• ♋Cancer
• ♌Leo
• ♍Virgo
• ♎Libra
• ♏Scorpio
• ♐Sagittarius
• ♑Capricorn
• ♒Aquarius
• ♓Pisces

Those who spend a lot of time reading birth charts and tracking the planets are often quick to point out that they can glean a lot of information from their partner’s astrological makeup, so some online daters like to include these emojis to bring light to a potential alignment that’s already written in the stars.

Finding a partner who shares your principles and core identities is for many people an essential challenge in online dating; these emojis represent a fraction of the ways prospective daters can try to find connection over who they are as members of a diverse world.

💬 EMOJIS IN DIRECT MESSAGES 

Building out the perfect profile or bio is only half the journey; once a match manifests, mastering the art of the DM, a skill unique to dating in the modern era, requires the right amount of charm, wit, class, and rizz. 

Where once in history someone looking to mingle might do their shmoozing in person, the digital age gives rise to a whole new way of laying it on thick with the hopes of landing a date, and chatting in a dating app—or texting if it gets there—comes plenty of opportunities for emoji usage. 

But knowing which emojis to use in a private message to someone you’ve matched with (and how many, for that matter) is a conundrum with no one-size-fits-all solution.

In a survey of a handful of mid-20s, actively app-dating heterosexual women in Brooklyn, New York, Business Insider found that there were unspoken rules about which emojis could make initial digital chatting feel fun and flirty—and which were a major turnoff.

For example, emojis like the ❤️Red Heart, typically used to convey affection, were considered too intimate for a pre-first-date online conversation. Similarly, the 🔥Fire was sometimes interpreted as immature or indicative of a “f—boy.”

And as mentioned above regarding dating app bios, any emoji with sexual undertones or more obvious overtones—like the 😈 Smiling Face with Horns, the 😛 Face With Tongue, the 👅 Tongue, or the 🍆 Eggplant—can for many online dates also be ick-eliciting in a private message, a significant overstep when potential matches haven’t even met in person yet. 

One thing they all agreed on: there’s almost never a time when any of the cartoon cat emojis make someone more appealing. So those thinking of dropping a cheeky 😼 Cat With Wry Smile into the chat might want to reconsider. 

All this is not to say there’s no place for emojis in DMs between newly matched app daters. When used tastefully, appropriately, and in limited quantities, emojis like the 😘 Face Blowing a Kiss or the 😉 Winking Face can strike the right playful tone. 

Knowing which emojis to use in a direct message—and how many become overkill—is subjective, of course, and it’s a question that people have even taken to forums like Reddit to ask. 

Overall, each situation is different, and context matters. The takeaway is that emoji usage can help woo a potential partner but shouldn’t substitute for real charisma, confidence, and substance.

Whether you’re a veteran online dater or diving into the pool for the first time, emojis can help in your hunt for love—or hinder you if used irresponsibly. But with millions of potential matches out there, your unique emoji style might be just what someone’s looking for.