IssueTracker

I've been complaining about this since day 1 of the new emoji. Surprised it doesn't have a tracker already... I couldn't find one other than this. Most of Android's emoji are fantastic, especially compared to iOS, but the hearts just don't make any sense.

There are in fact many Android emoji that do not fit their Unicode descriptions. I'll keep using iOS as a metric because it seems to have rather accurate representations in the cases where Android does not. This site details the differences between iOS and Android emoji.

http://www.explodedsoda.com/2013/07/ios-to-google-hangout-emoji-comparison.html

"Grimacing face" looks inexplicable angry on Android while it doesn't on any other platform:   http://www.iemoji.com/view/emoji/894/people/grimacing-face

"Person with blond hair" is, again inexplicably, a woman with red hair. This used to be called "A blond young boy", which most other platforms still adhere to:
http://www.iemoji.com/view/emoji/95/people/person-with-blond-hair

Previously called "Open red lips," the Android version of "Mouth" does not match any other platform:
http://www.iemoji.com/view/emoji/106/people/mouth


These are the worst offenders I could find. Most others have perfectly acceptable Android variants.

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Worth bearing in mind that iOS emoji are far from gospel.  Here's my favourite comparison table with meanings: http://apps.timwhitlock.info/emoji/tables/unicode

* iOS grin is far too similar to grimace
* iOS praying emoji is often taken as a high-five
* iOS woman with bunny ears is dancing girls with horns!
* iOS seat is an aeroplane chair

My main complaint with Android emoji is they're too elaborate and almost impossible to distinguish at small sizes.  They might look OK on a black background of a keyboard but when embedded in text on screen they're about half the size and on lower resolution devices it's impossible to see the difference between say the open eye, closed eye, winking eye, squinting eye, etc..

This mainly applies to the heads, where only a tiny part of the character is devoted to the eyes/mouth.  The heavy use of bright yellow in the emoji also makes them hard to see on white backgrounds.  Yellow has extrememly poor contrast against white: http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorcontrasts.asp

With the move towards white backgrounds in Lollipop, Google should seriously reconsider the use of flat yellow artwork, especially without borders.

The hearts issues is fixed in Lollipop. As for the the issues reported in comment #5, we need to track them separately.

Roozbeh, can we compile a single master list of all emoji that do not follow the Unicode standard? That would be much more efficient than creating a tracker for each one.

Also please see Comment #3, where I marked some other specific Android emoji that do not follow Unicode.

"Pile of poo" looks somewhat humanoid on all platforms except Android, having eyes and usually a smile. On Android it is just a smelly looking pile of poo with flies, which is not what users have come to expect from that (particularly popular) emoji.
 
http://www.iemoji.com/view/emoji/55/people/pile-of-poo

The team in charge of this really should go through the entire list with a fine-tooth comb and see not only how Android emoji are different from the Unicode standard descriptions but ALSO EQUALLY IMPORANTANTLY how they are different from other platforms! I literally know people who do not want to switch to Android "because the emoji are weird." This seemingly miniscule feature has become vitally important to some people to expressing themselves, so it is crucial that the Android emoji list sees a revision that brings them in line with USER EXPECTATIONS, not just a black and white description from the Unicode consortium.

We are tracking these issues in various places internal to Google too.

Unicode itself is also trying to clarify some of these, mostly through the work done in the draft Unicode Technical Report #51, which is being publicly reviewed through Public Review Issue 36904634 (http://www.unicode.org/review/pri286/). I suggest you become active in that process if you care. (Once things get clarified at the Unicode level, there's a much higher chance for consistency among the implementations.)

It seems that almost all of the Unicode discussion right now revloves around skin color representation of the people emoji. That is a battle for them to sort out before Android takes action, yes. However, there are numerous other Android emoji that deviate from user expectations across platforms.

Agree that the importance of emoji isn't fully appreciated.  Teenage girls (heaviest smartphone users on Earth) can't write a text or social media post without including 3 or more emoji, so compatibility and style are so important.  Even the ability to place emoji in contact names is a must-have feature (blame Apple) as well as placing emoji on pictures (blame Snapchat).

Blackberry still hasn't implemented system wide emoji, and they wonder why they lost the teen market!

Good to know there's people in Google still working on it.  As I've said on another issue, the ability to switch to a less-quirky emoji set (with more legible faces) or install custom emoji sets would go a long way to improving the terrible image of Android when it comes to emoji support.

A good number of people still don't even know Android can do emoji and it's a source of much mocking.  Can't count the number of times I've seen on Twitter that a user likes everything about their Android phone EXCEPT the emoji.

The Unicode effort is not limited to diversity at all. One of the efforts underway is to get vendors to design more interoperable emoji. That involves not just looking at the Unicode charts, but also the other vendors, and the original Japanese shapes.

See http://www.unicode.org/Public/emoji/1.0/full-emoji-list.html

We have identified a number of cases in https://docs.google.com/document/d/14rUKljk2IFo8-ATC5kMMG1_HslvmO-ALwDTDrbVBCog/edit#

We will need to finish those recommendations by Jan 24, so if anyone has additional suggestions, please let Roozbeh and I know.

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Smiling emoji
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=76471

Lollipop inconsistencies
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=80984

Given emoji will be in a period of flux for a year or two (new additions, diversity, conformity) it's all the more reason to make it easier for users to update/extend emoji, rather than wait months/years for a vendor OS update that may not come.

Could they not be moved into Google Play Services as an alternative set for devices with 4.4 onwards?  I note that Google Messenger and Google Hangouts already incorporate emoji to bypass the OS fonts, it seems messy and a waste of space for apps to all include emoji art when they could just be centrally stored and maintained?

I'll be happy to highlight emoji that always seem to cause confusion with users on social media and give feedback you may want to pass to Unicode.

I'm not too hopeful that Apple would ever update their artwork to conform though as they're Apple, they got their first and defined a "de facto" standard, plus Twitter blindly ripped-off their artwork.

+1 for moving emoji to Google Play Services so they are no longer dependent on manufacturers and carrier updates, although admittedly I don't understand the logistics and ramifications of that. lhassal, if you make a list of the ones that are common pain points I'll follow up with any others I can find that significantly deviate from other platforms.

I'd like to contribute, too.

Here are my comments from reviewing the emoji comparison table and observing emoji use on Twitter.

Sorry the list is long but I've placed the five most popular ones first, the others below them are less used and lower priority. Comments on those others are mainly on how Android's artwork could be improved for clarity/consistency but there are a few other issues Unicode might want to look at.

TOP 5:

1F64F person with folded hands

* Android: Needs better/clearer artwork for such a commonly used emoji
* Unicode: Description should be "praying", "bowing" or "wishing"
* Occasionally misinterpreted as a high-five because of Apple's artwork
* 19th most popular emoji on emojitracker.com

1F60C relieved face

* Unicode: Indistinct glyph has led to varied interpretations
* Android: Looks a bit too much like a sleepy yawn
* 22nd most popular emoji on emojitracker.com

1F481 information desk person

* Thanks to the Apple artwork it is now widely interpreted as being a care-free "sassy" woman
* Arguably this meaning is far more useful (hence surprising popularity) and should be adopted
* Alternative would be to add a new "hair-flick" or "unbothered" emoji
* 23rd most popular emoji on emojitracker.com

1F621 pouting face

* Android: Facial features too small, looks like puffed cheeks, doesn't match pouting cat face (1F63E)
* Unicode: Apple/Twitter versions look more like angry than pouting and should be corrected
* 48th most popular emoji on emojitracker.com

1F645 face with no good gesture

* Android: Again not great artwork for such a commonly used emoji, looks like "disgruntled with folded arms"
* 77th most popular emoji on emojitracker.com

OTHERS:

1F485 nail polish

* Android: Might already be fixed but should show a finger/toe to make obvious

1F60B face savouring delicious food

* Android: Facial features too small, tongue is barely visible

1F61B face with stuck-out tongue

* Android: Slightly down-turned mouth doesn't match other interpretations or 1F61C/1F61D

1F640 weary cat face

* Unicode: Apple has a bad interpretation of this one, inconsistent with their own normal weary face

1F466 to 1F478

* Android: Don't understand the use of elongated heads at all!

1F471 person with blond hair

* Android: Because of the yellow skin her hair ends up ginger!

1F443 nose

* Android: Not obviously a nose

1F498 heart with arrow

* Android: Orangey colour is poor inconsistent

1F42D mouse face

* Android: Needs whiskers

1F351 peach

* Android: Upside down compared to most others
* Most commonly used to represent a human bottom so important to reverse

1F352/1F353/1F355 cherries/strawberry/tomato

* Android: Orangey colours when should be red

1F364 fried shrimp

* Unicode/Android: Should be curled to match reality

1F4BA seat

* Already noted, more useful as a reclining armchair

1F6AE put litter in its place symbol

* Android: Looks like a child with a bucket rather than universal litter symbol

26D4 no entry

* Android: Again orange when signs are red in real life

1F6C1 bathtub

* Android: Looks like a pot on a stove due to lack of tap or shower head

1F300 cyclone

* Unicode: Apple's swirl is just plain wrong

2665/2666 heart/diamond card suits

* Android: Again orange when red in real life

1F3B2 game die

* Android: Not sure why orange dot was added

1F3BF ski and ski boot

* Android: Missing some actual skis

1F387 firework sparkler

* Unicode: Typically a stick held in the hand, not something hanging down

1F4DC scroll

* Android: Should look more like 1F4C3 but with the rolling pin bits

1F516 bookmark

* Unicode: Should be shown in a book as looks like a price tag currently

1F489 syringe

* Android: Some red blood inside would help

1F48A pill

* Android: Some colour as per reality would help identify

26AA/26AB medium circles

* Android: Far too small

Some zodiac signs seem to be wrong. Android ones are in the third column.

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Also, facial water drops should be blue instead of white.
Last comment: the penultimate heart emoji in the screenshot has a different silhouette and should be red

"Also, facial water drops should be blue instead of white"

Was tempted to mention that myself. Laughing with tears is the most used emoji and while the Android version is OK, the tiny white tears are too small.

Personally I much prefer the large blue stylised droplets that Twitter uses. I'm not sure what the correct art/design terminology is but it looks like a floating symbol above the face, like the symbols used for cloud, sun, rain in weather reports.

The Twitter 1F605 smiling with cold sweat is a perfect demonstration:

Is there any good reason why the Android face emoji are not round like they are on all other platforms? The it seems that the oblong gumdrop faces are disconcerting to a lot of people, and they definitely don't match other platforms which are pretty unanimously traditional circles. Honestly, Twitter has done a fantastic job of taking common expectations of emoji and bringing them into modern design by making them flat without too much deviation from what users expect (mostly due to their overwhelming popularity in iOS.)

Here's a tidbit that may be important:

https://blog.twitter.com/2014/open-sourcing-twitter-emoji-for-everyone

And here's a master list of all Twitter emoji. Please pay attention to the regular yellow face emoji - I feel that they are the most spot-on of any current interpretation.

http://emojipedia.org/twitter-emoji-list/

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I would personally like to see the pink theme of the outlines on the various "hand" emoji changed to something neutral like black. I understand the racial concerns over the using skin-color which is primarily light-colored in most interpretations like iOS and Twitter, but this way they would look like Mickey Mouse style white glove hands which would be more approachable and familiar to a lot of people than the current aggressive pink theme. Of course I don't mean they should be stylized any differently, just that pink should be replaced with black. Below is an example.

Totally agree, Twitter's emojis are more successful in "Material Design" than Google's!

(Strictly speaking they're just a flat material design makeover of Apple's)

Google tried a bit too hard with the humour/individuality on the faces.  The random use of 3D, random size/shape of the face, random size/position of facial features, etc... all go totally against Google's own guidelines:

http://www.google.co.uk/design/spec/style/icons.html

Quote: "Symmetry and consistency of shapes give the icons a unique quality, while keeping them simple and bold"

Honestly I don't see much of that going on in the emoji.

Personally, I prefer Android shapes. iOS and Twitter shapes are OK, but Android ones are funny. However, I agree with you that Twitter did a great work with the general design of their emojis (flat surfaces, colors...)

One advantage Android has is that, starting with Lollipop, most flags are supported. Apple and Twitter emojis don't include these "new "flags.

They're funny, but they don't correspond to any other platform. This is a problem. In the case of emoji, uniformity is a good thing - they should be similar enough that there is no ambiguity between platforms. The current "funny" face Android emoji vary drastically from their counterparts on basically every other platform, which just doesn't make sense. It only confuses users who aren't as savvy as those of us who would take the time to comment here. Uniformity is key in this area, so I am all for changing the first couple dozen regular face emoji to be normal, round faces like everyone on every other platform and those new to Android have come to expect.

I also think that it could be a huge boon to Android to implement all the new upcoming emoji as rapidly as possible to be the first platform to have it. This could do miracles for Android's PR in the minds of people who are fixated with other operating systems like iOS, to whom emoji are a huge deal. When they start seeing new emoji pop up in social media that they can't use yet, it seriously could be enough to convince a novice user to switch.

Maybe a preference in the Settings app to change between different emoji sets is a good idea. Users would be able to use the set they like most. That's another way users could customize their devices, one of the best things of Android.

As much as power users like us would love a feature like that, I don't think the added complexity is the wisest way to go as a vast, VAST majority of people would never bother to poke around in settings to change it. As Android has been headed the way of simplicity as of late, I have a hard time imagining the Android team will take the time to add an option to pick a set instead of making their "new" emoji selection and sticking with it 100% of the time.

To me, more importantly than giving users a choice of which set to use, would be to find a way to get this into Google Play Services so it would be uniform across ALL Android devices. As it stands, even LG, Samsung, Sony and HTC all have their own sets, which means for Android there are at least 5 distinct sets of emoji. That makes absolutely no sense.

My biggest fear is if Google don't take emoji seriously and put in some serious effort, Android will fall behind again.

No doubt iOS 9 will have all the new Unicode 7 emoji (including much wanted "raised middle finger" which will be hugely popular) and Apple will push them out to most active devices.  Meanwhile the majority of Android users will be stuck without for years, unless their device gets Android M quickly.

Accessibility should also to be considered, i.e. how about an alternate set of bold monochrome emoji for those with poor eyesight?  That would be a unique feature over iOS.

As for manufacturers using their own artwork (Samsung's are absolutely horrific, see below), one condition of deploying the Play Store and Google apps should be that standard emoji are always included and selectable (if not the default).  If that standard set could be housed/maintained via Google Play Services then users will have a fall-back route to the latest emoji.

Throwing ideas out here but this compromise is less complex that creating a whole new framework/API for custom emoji sets.

The current direction we're heading is where apps and keyboards all include megabytes of custom emoji art just to overcome the OS limitation. Extrememly wasteful and messy compared to other platforms.

I completely agree with lhassal. All that changes would mean a really big advantage over iOS 8/9.

Adding pictures I've found of the rarely-seen HTC emoji for reference.  I really like these because of:

* All in flat 2D aspect
* Darker borders for better contrast
* Limited, consistent, tasteful colour palette
* Emoji fill all the available height/width for icon-like consistency
* Facial features (eyes, mouth, curve of jaw) are all the same size/shape/position

Again a lot more "Material Design" going on than Google's effort.  Now Matías Duarte has finished redsigning the OS, he should be all over the emoji!

Wow, HTC's actually are quite good.

I like Android ones, but I have to say that HTC's are truly material design!

I'd like to hear from some Googlers what you think about ditching the gumdrop heads for traditional round faces that every other platform utilizes.

I notice Apple has suddenly gone after many popular apps that were using their emoji.  GO SMS Emoji Plugin, GO Keyboard, iKeyboard and others have been pulled from the Play Store.  I guess Whatsapp actually licensed the emoji from Apple?

Look at the reviews of GO SMS, people are going nuts about the switch to "ugly blobs".

Slightly off-topic but I saw the latest Kantar market share figures and Android took a beating during the iPhone 6 launch quarter. Ask people why they still refuse to switch from iPhone to Android and they'll say:

#1 Camera Quality
#2 Emoji

Just had a thought... A Lego emoji set!

Great cross-licensing/marketing opportunity.

Can a Googler please explain this one?? The blob girl is hideous!

http://emojipedia.org/information-desk-person/

As I was saying, eye-watering iPhone 6 sales.  That means tens of millions of potential customers have been lost to iOS for another 2 years.  Most of these customers can be classed as:

* "high net worth"
* "early adopters"
* "influencers"

Not to mention app developers will be running back to iOS on the news of record iPhone sales.

I'd like to think there's people in Google that actually study the competition and have a strategy for winning these customers?  I don't see much evidence of market research to identify why these people won't switch.

Even Microsoft is massively upping its game on the tablet side.  If Google hasn't polished Android 5.x and resolved the emoji situation by 2016 it's going to happen all over again!

Wow. If there was ever a perfect example of users hating the blob faces, the reviews of GoSMS are it. They're slamming the new ones, asking where the "good emojis" went and why there are these "hideous" ones now, and wrecking GoSMS's rating in the process. For an app with over 50,000,000 downloads that's impressive and goes to show how much users really do care about how their emoji look. I IMPLORE YOU, change these blobs to normal round faces that make sense. People are weirded out by the blobs, that's all there is to it. Please accept it as a misstep and improve by bringing normal round faces that align with user expectations to Android once and for all.

Seriously, read these reviews for the GoSMS Emoji Plugin. Everyone HATES the blob emojis.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jb.gosms.aemoji

Go SMS have been making other changes so customers have got plenty of reasons to be upset.

More evidence of lingering flaws (like emoji) limiting the success of Android, Q4 2014 saw the first ever drop in sales.

OK Android is hardly dead at 4 times global sales of iOS but the first drop must surely set off alarm bells at Google HQ.  Even Windows managed to rise.

Wow, just become aware of an excellent free open source emoji set. Somewhat derivative of the Twitter art but that's no bad thing as they're close to the de-facto iOS set.

http://www.emojione.com

Don't want to bash the Google emoji too much but seriously, the vast majority of users would prefer these:

Another one.
"full moon with face" looks like the sun without rays.

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Even Ikea can create Material Design emoji, see below.

If Google insist on sticking with the blobs they can at least give people the option to change to their own preferred set. This is a glaring omission in the ability to customise Android, no different to changing ringtone or wallpaper.

iOS 8.3 Beta will be released next month and as I feared Apple has added emoji diversity already!

Meanwhile Android is stuck with the blobs that nobody likes and would look ridiculous in brown anyway.

Anybody at Google actually care about beating Apple to features people actually want?  I bet even Windows 10 gets this before Android.

^ THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

Any update from Google on emoji?

Here's some tweets from just the last 12 hours:

* Android emojis are so ugly
* I really hate android emojis
* I hate android emojis they're ugly af
* these emojis on the android are so horrible looking
* I hate when android users forever put them generic emojis on snapchat
* Android "emojis" are ugly as hell
* Android's emojis, compared to iPhone's, look so odd to me...
* One thing I hate is android emojis
* Android emojis make me legitimately mad
* The android emojis really bug me lol
* Android emojis are so low budget
* android emojis look weird smh
* Android emojis are so lame
* Reason not to buy an android: emojis
* android emojis make me cringe
* oh well blame the android emojis it makes recognizing hard
* I feel disrespected by android emojis tbh
* Android emojis are ass
* Android emojis are just creepy when you compare them to iOS emojis
* the emojis suck on android
* Android emojis just look broke
* Them sh*t emojis android phones have

We don't want this issue to be "abandoned"

I sincerely hope someone in charge is taking this seriously... Especially with the leaked racial diversity interface that will likely be present in iOS 9. without a total revamp, Android is going to continue to lag in this area for years to come.

iOS is making strides in emoji with the skin tone selector and other refinements feature now confirmed for iOS 8.3. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, someone with authority over Android's emoji, take this issue seriously! OVERHAUL ANDROID EMOJI!

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/25/ios-8-3-beta-4-emoji-changes/

This issue should have its priority level raised to "medium". Consumer culture has changed and this is no longer a small issue. It is one that users take far, FAR more seriously than things like kernel tweaks that slightly improve battery life or low latency audio APIs. It is literally enough to sway people to use different platforms with "normal" emoji that aren't the "weird", "ugly" Android ones. The non-human blog design was a flop. It is time for Android's design team, all the way up to Mr. Duarte himself, to admit this is a problem deserving of a complete and total revamp. FOLLOW THE iOS MODEL. IT WORKS. USERS PREFER IT. THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY.

Not "medium", but even " high".

Since this issue was actually closed because the hearts have been "fixed" (still some inconsistencies like no standard red heart), I've made a new tracker. Everyone who is interested in this issue, please star it here:

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?can=2&start=0&num=100&q=&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars&groupby=&sort=&id=162608

I've already blasted it out to a few communities on Google+ to get their opinions and it seems like a lot of people are jumping on board already.

I've just done a mock-up of how the "blobs" would look with dark skin... Absolutely ridiculous!

Not only are the facial features barely visible, they all look like turds! Google could face huge criticism if they don't have a major rethink.  Unbelievable Matius Duarte hasn't taken any interest?!?

I hate Apple as much as anybody but they know what users want.

I know they won't probably do this, but it would be great if the used Emoji One or Twitter Emoji on Android. They follow Material Design guidelines, are open source and look great (with real faces instead of "blobs"). They are very similar, but Emoji One includes every country flag in the world.

So Apple launched iOS 8.3 today with emoji diversity, immediately putting Android even further behind.

It's 5 years since Apple added colour emoji to iOS and yet today just 47% of Android devices have colour!  5 years later!

When can be expect Android to get diversity, 2020???

I swear if Windows 10 implements this I'm defecting because it's a sign Android is being totally mis-mangaged with absolutely no consideration for consumers and developers.

Still no signs of progress so here's another selection of genuine Tweets from just the last 12 hours:

* Android emojis are pitiful lol
* I Hate When People Talk About My Android Emojis
* Android emojis are so ugly I cringe
* Android emojis be having me weak
* Man this Galaxy Note 4 nice as hell but android emojis sooooo weak
* I be using these bootleg Android emojis
* I can't take you seriously if you have android emojis
* android emojis creep me out
* android emojis are so aesthetically unpleasing to me
* I'll use iPhones until the day I die simply because android emojis look silly
* Android emojis make me uncomfortable
* I can't stand android emojis
* These android emojis are soooo weird!
* Android users don't need to be on snapchat with them ugly a$$ cameras & emojis yall got
* Some girls be so beautiful until they send u android emojis on Snapchat
* Android emojis confusing and ugly
* android emojis make me wanna curl up into a ball & just cry my life away
* Android users ought to stop with the emojis
* I hate going from android to iPhone emojis because they look so different on tweets
* Android emojis are quite possibly satan in disguise
* The android emojis are freaking creeper than anything
* I think android emojis are the creepiest things ever
* If you have an android don't use those fake emojis please
* Nothing makes me feel more awkward than android emojis