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Fast Reverse Button Emoji

SymbolsU+23EA:rewind:
arrowbuttondoublefastreverserewind

About Fast Reverse Button ⏪️

Fast Reverse Button () is part of the Symbols group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E0.6. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.

Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.

Often associated with arrow, button, double, and 3 more keywords.

Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.

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How it looks

What does it mean?

Two triangles pointing left — the universal rewind button. Originally designed for reel-to-reel tape recorders in the 1960s at Ampex, the triangles point in the direction the tape physically moves during rewind. That analog origin is why we still call it "rewind" even though digital media doesn't wind anything.

In texting, ⏪ means "go back" in every sense. Go back in a conversation ("wait, ⏪, what did you just say?"), go back in time (throwback content, nostalgia), or literally rewind audio/video. It's the emoji version of "hold on, let me back up." Paired with ⏩ (fast forward), it creates a media player bracket that people use to frame a story or indicate they're skipping past the boring parts.

It was one of the original emoji approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) under the less catchy name . Despite being over 15 years old, it's never been heavily used — it lives in the shadow of text-based alternatives like "wait" and "hold on."

⏪ shows up in three main patterns. The first is conversation navigation: "⏪ wait, go back to the part about..." This is its most natural use and the one that translates best across languages.

The second is throwback and nostalgia content. ⏪ pairs with old photos, #TBT posts, and "remember when" captions. It functions as a visual cue that the content is looking backward in time. The rewind concept maps perfectly to nostalgia because both are about revisiting something that already happened.

The third is podcast and music content. Creators use ⏪ and ⏩ to reference skipping through episodes, rewinding to re-hear a section, or framing timestamps. Podcast clips on TikTok and Instagram Reels sometimes use ⏪ in captions to indicate they're replaying a key moment.

Rewinding conversationsThrowback and nostalgiaPodcast and musicMedia player controlsGoing back in time
What does the ⏪ fast reverse button emoji mean?

Two left-pointing triangles representing a rewind button. Used for going back in conversations ("⏪ wait, what?"), throwback content, nostalgia, and media playback references. The symbol was invented at Ampex in the 1960s for reel-to-reel tape recorders.

Why do we still say 'rewind' when there's no tape to wind?

It's a linguistic fossil. The word "rewind" literally means to wind something back onto a reel. Digital media doesn't wind anything, but the metaphor stuck because the concept (go back to an earlier point) is the same. Similarly, we still "dial" phone numbers and "roll down" car windows.

Emoji combos

The full media controls family

Thirteen emojis form one of the tightest visual families in Unicode. Every one of them descends from tape deck and VCR hardware of the 1960s-1980s, and they still map to the same mental model: triangles for direction of motion, bars for boundaries, the square for full halt, and the circle for capture. Clicking through the family is a fast tour through 60 years of media UI history.
▶️[Play](/play-button)
The arrow points in the direction the tape physically moves. Pre-1963 Philips and Grundig tape decks.
⏸️[Pause](/pause-button)
Two vertical bars, inspired by the musical caesura. Ampex, 1960s.
⏯️[Play/Pause](/play-or-pause-button)
Toggle glyph combining triangle and bars. Added when touch UIs needed one button for both.
⏹️[Stop](/stop-button)
The play triangle with the arrow removed. No motion means the tape is stopped.
⏺️[Record](/record-button)
Filled circle, rendered red by universal convention since 1950s recording studios.
⏏️[Eject](/eject-button)
Triangle on a bar, pushing the tape up and out. The oldest Unicode-encoded member of the family.
⏭️[Next track](/next-track-button)
Triangle plus vertical bar — skip forward to the next boundary.
⏮️[Previous track](/last-track-button)
Mirror of next — skip back to the previous boundary.
⏩[Fast-forward](/fast-forward-button)
Two triangles stacked for double speed forward.
⏪[Fast-reverse](/fast-reverse-button) ← you are here
Two left-pointing triangles — rewind. The VHS era lives on.
◀️[Reverse](/reverse-button)
Single left triangle. Reverse playback at normal speed.
⏫[Fast-up](/fast-up-button)
Not a tape control — borrowed for scrolling UIs. Double triangle up.
⏬[Fast-down](/fast-down-button)
Scroll-down counterpart to ⏫. The newest members of the family.

Origin story

The rewind symbol was born out of a translation problem. In the 1960s, Ampex, the American company that pioneered reel-to-reel tape recording, needed universal controls for their equipment sold in foreign markets. The word "pause" didn't translate cleanly into all languages, so engineer(s) at Ampex designed visual symbols instead. The play button (▶️) pointed right because tape moved right during playback. Rewind (⏪) pointed left because tape moved left. Fast forward (⏩) doubled the play arrow for emphasis. The pause symbol (⏸️) combined the stop square with a caesura (a break in rhythm from music notation).

These symbols became so universally understood that ISO/IEC 18035 eventually standardized them. They survived the transition from tape to CD to digital, unchanged. When Unicode added media control emojis in 2010 (Unicode 6.0), they inherited symbols that were already 50 years old.

⏪ was approved as and has been available on most platforms since the early days of emoji. Unlike many emojis that were added based on proposals and campaigns, the media control symbols came directly from an existing Unicode block of technical symbols.

The Media Control Family: How Old Are These Symbols?

Every media control emoji you use traces back to the same source: Ampex engineers in the 1960s who needed symbols that worked without translation. These icons are older than the internet, older than personal computers, and older than VHS. They've survived unchanged for over 60 years.

Design history

  1. 1960Ampex engineers design universal media control symbols for reel-to-reel recorders, including the rewind symbol↗
  2. 1976JVC introduces the first VHS VCR; rewind button becomes a household staple
  3. 1985"Be Kind, Please Rewind" becomes the unofficial motto of video rental stores
  4. 2010Unicode 6.0 adds ⏪ as an emoji (U+23EA BLACK LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE TRIANGLE)↗
  5. 2018YouTube Rewind 2018 becomes the most disliked video in YouTube history↗

Be Kind, Please Rewind

If you grew up in the VHS era, you remember the sticker inside every rental tape: "Be kind, please rewind." Blockbuster and other video stores charged fees for unrewound tapes because the next renter shouldn't have to wait. Some people even bought dedicated VHS rewinder machines shaped like race cars.

The phrase became so embedded in 90s culture that it outlived VHS itself. Michel Gondry made a 2008 film called Be Kind Rewind starring Jack Black and Mos Def. Today, it's pure nostalgia shorthand. Saying "be kind, rewind" instantly signals that you remember a pre-streaming world.

Do you remember having to rewind VHS tapes?

Do's and don'ts

DO
  • ✓Use it to ask someone to go back in a conversation ("⏪ wait, what?")
  • ✓Pair with old photos for throwback/nostalgia content
  • ✓Use with ⏩ to frame a story or indicate you're skipping around
  • ✓Use for podcast timestamps and audio navigation references
DON’T
  • ✗Overuse it as a conversational interrupt (one ⏪ gets the point across)
  • ✗Use it when you could just say "go back" — it's most effective as emphasis, not replacement
Can I use ⏪ at work?

Yes, it's one of the most neutral emojis available. "⏪ let's go back to that point" works in any professional Slack or Teams conversation. It has no hidden meanings, no cultural baggage, and no generational controversy. Pure utility.

Caption ideas

Aesthetic sets

🤔Designed to solve a translation problem
Media control symbols were created at Ampex in the 1960s because words like "pause" and "rewind" didn't translate well into all languages. The visual solution — arrows showing tape direction — became universal. They haven't changed in 60+ years.
🎲YouTube killed its own Rewind
YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video in YouTube history with 20 million dislikes in a week. Even YouTube's CEO admitted her kids called it "cringey." YouTube discontinued the annual Rewind series after 2019.
⚡Rewind doesn't wind anything anymore
We still say "rewind" even though digital media has no tape to wind. The word is a fossil from the VHS/cassette era. The ⏪ emoji preserves a metaphor for a physical action that most people under 25 have never performed.

Fun facts

  • •The rewind symbol was invented at Ampex in the 1960s for reel-to-reel tape recorders. The triangles point left because tape physically moved left during rewind.
  • •"Be Kind, Please Rewind" was the iconic slogan inside Blockbuster VHS rental tapes. Unrewound returns incurred fees. Some people owned dedicated VHS rewinder machines shaped like race cars.
  • •YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video in YouTube history with 20 million dislikes in one week. YouTube killed the Rewind series after 2019.
  • •The #TBT (Throwback Thursday) hashtag has been used over 500 million times on Instagram. It started in sneaker blogs around 2006 and went mainstream when Kim Kardashian started using it in 2012.
  • •The word "rewind" is a linguistic fossil. Digital media doesn't wind anything, but we still say it. ⏪ preserves a metaphor for a physical action that's been obsolete since the mid-2000s.
  • •Media control symbols are standardized under ISO/IEC 18035. They're among the few design elements that have survived unchanged from 1960s analog hardware to 2020s streaming interfaces.

In pop culture

  • •"Be Kind, Please Rewind" — The iconic VHS-era slogan found inside every Blockbuster rental tape. Unrewound returns incurred fees. The phrase became one of the most recognizable pieces of 90s culture and outlived VHS itself.
  • •YouTube Rewind 2018 — YouTube's annual recap video became the most disliked video in YouTube history with 20 million dislikes within a week. Even CEO Susan Wojcicki said "my kids told me it was cringey." YouTube discontinued the Rewind series after 2019.
  • •Be Kind Rewind (2008) — Michel Gondry's film starring Jack Black and Mos Def about two friends who accidentally erase every VHS tape in a rental store and must re-create the films from memory.
  • •Throwback Thursday (#TBT) — The Instagram hashtag used over 500 million times for nostalgic content. ⏪ is frequently paired with #TBT posts as a visual rewind cue. The trend started in sneaker blogs around 2006 and went mainstream around 2012.
  • •Ampex's universal language — The media control symbols were invented at Ampex in the 1960s because "pause" couldn't be easily translated. The solution was visual: arrows showing tape direction. These same symbols are now on every music app, streaming service, and podcast player on Earth.

Trivia

Where were media control symbols (play, pause, rewind) invented?
Why does the rewind symbol point left?
What was YouTube's most disliked video before dislikes were hidden?
What was 'Be Kind, Please Rewind'?
How many times has #TBT been used on Instagram?

For developers

  • •. One of the original Unicode 6.0 (2010) emoji. Originally from the Miscellaneous Technical block, not the Emoticons block.
  • •Shortcode: on Slack, Discord, and GitHub.
  • •Has a text presentation variant () and emoji presentation variant (). Most platforms default to emoji presentation.
  • •The full media control set: ⏪ (), ◀️ (), ▶️ (), ⏩ (), ⏸️ (), ⏹️ (), ⏏️ ().
💡Accessibility
Screen readers announce this as "fast reverse button" or "rewind button." The description communicates the media control function but not the common texting uses (throwback, going back in conversation).
When was ⏪ added to Unicode?

⏪ was approved in Unicode 6.0 in 2010 as . It was part of the Miscellaneous Technical Unicode block before being adopted as an emoji. The underlying symbol design dates to the 1960s.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.

What does ⏪ mean to you?

Select all that apply

Sources

Related Emojis

⏩️Fast-forward Button⏫️Fast Up Button⏬️Fast Down Button◀️Reverse Button🔄Counterclockwise Arrows Button🔀Shuffle Tracks Button🔁Repeat Button🔂Repeat Single Button

More Symbols

🔀Shuffle Tracks Button🔁Repeat Button🔂Repeat Single Button▶️Play Button⏩Fast-forward Button⏭️Next Track Button⏯️Play Or Pause Button◀️Reverse Button⏪Fast Reverse Button⏮️Last Track Button🔼Upwards Button⏫Fast Up Button🔽Downwards Button⏬Fast Down Button⏸️Pause Button⏹️Stop Button

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