Many messaging apps now offer users the ability to react to a chat bubble with an emoji. For instance,Facebook Messengerusers can use emoji reactions in a conversation andWhatsAppalso offers the feature now.
Mark Zuckerberg announced onhis Instagram Storiesat the beginning of July 2022 that an emoji reactions feature started rolling out and it was then announced on 13 July 2025 that this feature had expanded to include the full emoji keyboard and not just the initial select few that were available.
Here is everything you need to know about emoji reactions in WhatsApp.
What are emoji reactions?
Emoji reactions are literally emoji that you use to show another person you’ve seen their message and you felt a certain way about it.
They can be a heart, for instance, or the face with tears of joy emoji. Emoji reactions are a universal, visual, and simple way to respond to a message without having to type a response.
How to get emoji reactions in WhatsApp
You need to download (or update to) the latest version of the WhatsApp mobile app. If you don’t see emoji reactions in WhatsApp, just bear in mind that the software update bringing the feature is rolling out server-side. It may take a few weeks for everyone to get emoji reactions in WhatsApp.
How to react to messages in WhatsApp
If you want to use emoji reactions on a message in WhatsApp, follow these steps:
Which emoji does WhatsApp offer?
At launch, there were six emoji reactions available:
WhatsApp expanded the feature to the full emoji keyboard from 10 June 2025, supporting all emoji and skin tones that you can typically use in messages.
Anything else you should know?
According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is beta-testing a feature to enable or disable notifications for emoji reactions to messages you’ve sent. You can find the reaction notifications toggle under Settings > Notifications as a menu option called Reaction Notifications.
