WhatsApp uses emojis as emoticons to be used in chat, standard for all and the same. WhatsApp has chosen to ignore native emojis built into Android in favor of Apple's Emoji graphics.
This means that those who have an Android smartphone will find different faces and symbols in Whatsapp compared to other applications such as SMS (standard Android smileys are found by pressing and holding the Enter key).
Whatasapp's Emoji characters are grouped into 5 categories and are visible, large, on this page of the Emojipedia site where the meaning of all Whatsapp emoticons is also indicated.
Unlike Facebook Messenger, in the Whatsapp application there are no stickers and there is no integration with other applications so, in fact, for Emoji and smiley faces, what Whatsapp offers is rather miserable.
Luckily it is possible, by downloading and installing external applications, to add different Emojis and Emoticons to Whatsapp, both on Android smartphones (Samsung, HTC, LG, Asus, Motorola, etc.), and on the iPhone .
READ ALSO: Enable Emoji smileys in messages on Android, iPhone and iPad
Add Whatsapp emoticons on Android
The easiest way to write any type of Emoticon on the Whatsapp chat is by installing a different keyboard app than the default one.
Once the Emoji keyboard is installed, when you open a Whatsapp chat, press and hold on the space bar (or in some cases the Enter key ) until the popup appears to change the keyboard and choose the Emoji keyboard.
On some keyboard apps such as SwiftKey and especially GBoard id Google you can press a key on the bottom right with a keyboard design or enter Emoji by holding Enter .
Then choose the one of the Emojis and press the button with the smiley face to browse the various emoticons (the button is on the keyboard, not the one on the left of the writing box which is instead of Whatsapp with the standard emoticons).
Obviously, the recipient does not need to have the app installed and will see the emoticon normally on their phone.
After installing the app, you can go back to using the standard keyboard, the Google, Samsung or Swiftkey keyboard, and find the additional Emojis imported from the installed apps.
One of the most popular in the Google store is Emoji Keyboard Pro, full of smileys, compositions of pre-configured emoticons and, above all, emotional GIF images or animated images taken from films that can be used to express your mood of the moment.
Other keyboards to have more particular emoticons are Cute Emoji Keyboard and KK Emoji, which also includes the laughing dog and several funny faces.
Add Emoticons to Whatsapp on iPhone
To write Emoji on iPhone and iPad go to Settings, then to General, scroll down, touch keyboard and then to Keyboards .
Then add a new keyboard and choose the one with the Emoji or another installed.
To use it, when you touch a text field, you can use the smiley face icon or hold down the globe button and select the Emoji.
Since alternative keyboards can also be installed on the iPhone, there are apps specialized in emoticons such as Emoji ++, which costs one Euro and adds many more facets to use on Whatsapp or on any other messaging application.
Another way of putting particular and additional emoticons on the Whatsapp chat from Android and iPhone is the use of apps such as SMS Rage Faces for iPhone and Android with memes or Emoji My Face for iPhone to transform a photo into an emoticon.
These apps are not keyboards therefore they must be opened independently and after choosing or creating the emoticon, use the share button to send them via Whatsapp.
The same goes for BitMoji, an app to create personalized emoticons on the iPhone and Android that I had already talked about.
Both on Android and iPhone it is also possible, from 2018, to insert personal animated stickers in Whatsapp and chat messages with GBoard, automatically made based on the photo of our face.
READ ALSO: Turn photos into Emoji with our emoticon face for Whatsapp and Facebook
