July 17 is the date chosen to celebrate World Emoji Day. Now we’ve been using emoticons for eons, but the standardization of the emoji in WhatsApp and other communication apps have taken this global language and transformed it into one of the most relevant communication methods nowadays. To celebrate this day, we’ve put together five free Android apps to take full advantage of the emoji.
What is World Emoji Day?
The origen of a celebration like World Emoji Day has a much simpler explanation than you probably could imagine. It all stems from the fact that July 17 is the original date that appeared on the calendar emoji. The reason behind this date resides in the fact that it was the date that the Apple Calendar (iCal) was announced for the first time. Although some services have changed this date on their own calendar emoji, it’s still the most used version.
The relevance of emoji keeps grow¡ng every day. And it’s not just that it’s a universal language — the pop culture importance is also stronger than ever. So much so that emoji even have their own movie (even if it’s not very good) and even their own anthem. We’ll just leave this video right here so we’re not the only ones who have to suffer through the cringe-worthy experience.
The best Android keyboards for using emoji
Although emoji are extremely easy to use nowadays, not everyone is happy with the options offered by the basic Android keyboards. That’s why we’ve selected five apps to participate in and celebrate this emoticon festival that is World Emoji Day 2018.
Facemoji Keyboard
This is one of the most popular keyboards thanks to the immense customization possibilities it offers. It offers tons of keyboards and even more emoji packs to download and use whenever you want. Best of all, it has themed emoji packs to commemorate typical annual events. [Download]
Gboard
Leaving the Google keyboard off this list would be a big mistake. Not only because it’s one of the most used keyboards on Android, but for its enormous versatility that lets it offer traditional emoji along with different packs of stickers that you can also use as you like. [Download]
Bitmoji
If you’re online and don’t come across a single image from Bitmoji, it’s unusual, to say the least. This creator of emoji and stickers based on a customized avatar works really well as a keyboard, but you can also integrate it in Gboard if you prefer to use the Google app. The design possibilities are gigantic, and so is the great number of images you can create. [Download]
Disney Emoji Blitz
This fun puzzle game hides an entire emoji universe featuring images of the most iconic Disney characters. The “downside” is that in order to fully use this keyboard, you have to unlock the different emoji by playing and completing missions. This game is incredibly fun, but it’s up to you if you want to invest your time in order to unlock emoji or not. [Download]
Kaomoji Japanese Emoticons
We haven’t always been able to use emoji like we do today. But that never stopped us from getting inventive and letting our artistic side shine as we created emoticons using only the keys on our computer’s keyboard. This app gives you access to tons of Kaomoji emoticons that you just have to copy and paste to use them. Now, we know it’s not actually a keyboard but it is the perfect complement to any of the keyboards on this list. [Download]
