Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Count emoji characters and total characters in any text.
This tool counts emoji characters in your text separately from regular characters, using the standard Unicode pictographic character range.
Paste your text. Emoji count and total character count appear instantly.
The tool uses the Unicode Extended_Pictographic property, which is the standard way for a program to recognize pictographic symbols. Every character with that property is counted once. This includes faces, hands, animals, objects, hearts, flags-related symbols that use pictographic characters, and many older symbols such as the check mark or the copyright sign in their emoji-capable forms. The second number shown, the total character count, counts Unicode code points in the text, not UTF-16 units, so an emoji outside the basic range counts as one there.
Many emoji you see as one image are actually several code points joined together. A skin-tone variation adds a modifier, a family or couple emoji is several people joined by invisible joiner characters, and a flag is built from two regional indicator letters. Because the tool counts pictographic characters individually, a single visible family emoji made of several people may be counted as more than one, and a joined sequence's parts are counted separately. So the count is a count of pictographic code points, which can be higher than the number of images on screen. Flags built from regional indicators may not be counted at all, because those characters are not part of the pictographic class.
Consider the text "Launch day! [party popper] [rocket] Join us [smiling face]" written with three actual emoji. The tool reports an emoji count of 3, while the total character count is the number of code points in the whole string, letters, spaces and punctuation included. Now replace the smiling face with a version that has a skin-tone or a joined sequence. The visible number of images might stay the same but the emoji count can rise, which is a good illustration of the point above.
There is no universal right number of emoji. Suitable use depends on your audience, platform and brand voice. A ratio of emoji to total characters can help you notice when a short message is leaning heavily on them, but the tool does not judge that for you. Also consider accessibility: screen readers read each emoji's description aloud, so long runs of repeated emoji can be tiresome for listeners, and placing them at the end of a sentence instead of in the middle usually reads better.
The tool does not identify which emoji appear, does not count text-based emoticons such as a colon and parenthesis smile, and does not tell you how a given platform or device will render a character. New emoji added by later Unicode versions are recognized only if your browser knows about them.
Some platforms count emoji differently toward character limits, and heavy emoji use can affect readability or come across as spammy -- useful to keep an eye on for professional posts.
Some emoji are built from several code points, such as sequences with modifiers or joiners. Each pictographic part can be counted.
No. Only Unicode pictographic characters are counted, not emoticons made from punctuation.
Yes. The total counts every character in the text, and each emoji code point is part of it.
Not always. Platforms have different counting rules for emoji, so use the Social Media Character Counter and then confirm in the platform itself.
Reference: Google Search Central