Smiling Face With Hearts Emoji
U+1F970:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:About Smiling Face With Hearts π₯°
Smiling Face With Hearts () is part of the Smileys & Emotion group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E11.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. On Discord it's . On TikTok, type in comments to insert 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 3, adore, crush, and 9 more keywords.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
A smiling face surrounded by floating hearts, with rosy cheeks and closed, contented eyes. It's the "I feel loved" emoji. Where π is excited and reactive ("oh wow, I love this!"), π₯° is warm and settled ("I'm basking in love right now"). Emojipedia's analysis describes it as "glowing but gratified, radiant but relaxed." That distinction matters: π is about seeing something you love, π₯° is about feeling loved. Despite being one of the newest emojis in the love category (approved in Unicode 11.0 in 2018), it won the 2019 World Emoji Award for Most Popular New Emoji, beating 229 other candidates including π₯Ί, π₯΄, and π₯³.
You'll see it in Instagram comments on wholesome content, in couple texting, and as a response to compliments. It shows up a lot on Valentine's Day posts, pet photos, and anything that triggers "aww" feelings. On Twitter, Emojipedia tracked π₯° appearing in 0.40% of all tweets analyzed in April 2020, making it one of the more popular love emojis but behind π₯Ί (which hit 0.98% in the same period). It's used by all age groups but particularly popular with women and younger users. It's safe at work in moderation since it reads as warm appreciation rather than romantic intent, unlike π which has much stronger flirty connotations.
It means you're feeling loved, warm, and content. The floating hearts and rosy cheeks convey a sense of basking in affection. Emojipedia describes it as "glowing but gratified, radiant but relaxed." It's the "I feel loved" emoji.
Both, depending on context. Between partners, it's romantic. Between friends reacting to wholesome content, it's platonic. The emoji's vibe is "warm contentment," which works in any loving context. It's one of the safer love emojis for platonic use because it doesn't have an explicit romantic gesture like a wink or kiss.
Love Emoji Sentiment: Who Wears the Crown?
What it means from...
If your crush sends π₯°, they're telling you something made them feel warm and fuzzy. It's softer than π (which is actively flirty) and less dramatic than π (which is excited). π₯° from a crush says "you make me feel comfortable and happy." That's a good sign.
Couples use π₯° constantly. It's the "I feel loved" response to sweet messages, photos together, and random afternoon check-ins. The contentment in the emoji (closed eyes, rosy cheeks) makes it feel like a warm hug.
Between friends, π₯° means "that's so sweet" or "I love this." It's one of the safer love emojis for platonic use because the vibe is warm appreciation, not romance. Reacting to a friend's good news with π₯° is natural and won't be misread.
Where π₯° Actually Lives
Flirty or friendly?
π₯° leans more friendly-warm than explicitly flirty. Unlike π (which has a clear romantic wink) or π (which has intense heart-eyes), π₯° expresses contentment and gratitude. It's used platonically all the time. The flirty signal comes from the pattern: if someone sends π₯° specifically to you after personal moments, that's different from sending it as a general reaction.
- β’π₯° after you say something sweet to them? They appreciate you, could be romantic or platonic.
- β’π₯° as a reaction to a pet photo or food? Not flirty, just enjoying the content.
- β’π₯° combined with π or β€οΈ in the same message? Now it's romantic.
- β’π₯° from someone who never uses love emojis with others? Pay attention, they're picking their audience.
Guys tend to be more selective with love emojis, so π₯° from a guy usually means he's feeling warm and affectionate. It's softer than π (which is more actively flirty). If he's sending π₯° in response to something you did or said, he appreciates you.
Women use π₯° more freely across different relationships. It could mean she's feeling loved (romantic), happy about something cute (platonic), or just expressing warm appreciation. Context matters: π₯° after a romantic message is different from π₯° reacting to a puppy video.
Emoji combos
Origin story
π₯° arrived in Unicode 11.0 in 2018, filling a gap in the emoji love vocabulary. Before it existed, people had π (excited infatuation), π (actively sending a kiss), and β€οΈ (the classic heart). What was missing was "I feel loved," the passive, contented glow of being in a warm emotional state. The original Unicode name was unwieldy: "Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes And Three Hearts." The short name was "Smiling Face With 3 Hearts." It was eventually simplified to just "Smiling Face with Hearts." On most platforms, the emoji shows two hearts to the right and one to the left of the face, with rosy cheeks and a gentle smile. It was part of the same 2018 batch that included π₯Ί Pleading Face, π₯΄ Woozy Face, and π₯³ Partying Face. Out of 230 new emoji candidates, π₯° became the most popular based on Emojipedia page views in the first half of 2019.
Approved in Unicode 11.0 (2018) as . Original full name: SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES AND THREE HEARTS. Short name: Smiling Face With 3 Hearts. Later simplified to Smiling Face with Hearts. Added to Emoji 11.0 in 2018.
The Tranche 5 Cohort: Specialization, Not Replacement
- πL2/15-054, July 2015 (Davis + Edberg): [Mark Davis and Peter Edberg's 'Tranche 5' proposal](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15054r4-emoji-tranche5-utc-approved-vers.pdf) cleared the path for the 2018 face cohort. The proposal authors explicitly framed the additions as 'specialization' of feelings the older emojis had been overloaded to carry. They were not designed to replace anyone.
- π₯°Carved off from π: π₯° took the contentment-and-being-loved register that π (2010) had been doing as a side hustle. After π₯°, π settled into pure excited admiration. The two emojis still co-exist comfortably; the load got distributed.
- π₯ΊCarved off from π’ / π: π₯Ί (pleading) took the soft-begging job that π’ had carried unhappily and that π had carried clinically. The 'puppy dog eyes' visual finally got a dedicated glyph.
- π₯³Carved off from π: π₯³ (Party Face) split celebratory feeling off from the party-popper object. Before 2018, π had to do double duty as object and reaction; afterward, π₯³ took the reaction.
- π₯Ά π₯΅ π€― π€ͺ π₯΄ π§And six more: π₯Ά cold, π₯΅ hot, π€― mind-blown, π€ͺ zany, π₯΄ woozy, π§ monocle. Each carved a niche off an older emoji that had been improvising the role.
How the love emoji vocabulary grew
- β€οΈ1993 β β€οΈ Red Heart: The original. "I love you." A declaration. Unicode 1.1 put it in the Dingbats block. It's still the most-used heart in the world.
- π2010 β π Heart-Eyes: "I love what I'm seeing!" Excited, reactive, loud. Filled the gap for visual admiration. Unicode 6.0.
- π2010 β π Face Blowing a Kiss: "I'm sending you a kiss." Directed, intimate, goodbye-adjacent. Filled the gap for personal affection. Unicode 6.0.
- π₯°2018 β π₯° Smiling Face with Hearts: "I feel loved." Warm, settled, contented. Filled the gap for passive, glowing affection. No emoji had covered this before. Unicode 11.0.
- β€οΈβπ₯2021 β β€οΈβπ₯ Heart on Fire: "I'm burning for you." Intense, passionate, sexual. Filled the gap between love and desire. Unicode 13.1.
- π«Ά2021 β π«Ά Heart Hands: "I love you" as a gesture. The physical act of making a heart with your hands. Unicode 14.0.
Design history
- 2018Approved in Unicode 11.0 and Emoji 11.0 as Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes And Three Heartsβ
- 2018Apple ships π₯° in iOS 12.1 (October 2018)
- 2019Wins World Emoji Award for Most Popular New Emoji, beating 229 candidatesβ
- 2020Emojipedia analysis shows π₯° in 0.40% of tweets, behind π₯Ί at 0.98%β
Around the world
π₯° travels well because "feeling loved" is one of the few emotional states that reads the same way almost everywhere. In Western messaging, it's used for romantic contentment and platonic appreciation equally. In South and East Asian messaging, where direct expressions of romantic love can be more reserved in public, π₯° works as a softer alternative to π or π. Korean messaging culture in particular favors soft, cute emojis, and π₯° fits that aesthetic. In K-pop fan communities, π₯° is one of the go-to responses to member interactions β it signals "this made me feel warm" without the intensity of π. In Latin American WhatsApp groups, it sits comfortably alongside β€οΈ and π as part of the standard affection vocabulary. The one place where π₯° can read differently is in highly formal or reserved cultures, where any heart emoji β even a gentle one β might feel too intimate for public-facing communication.
Because the name doesn't help. "Smiling face with hearts" could mean anything β are you in love? Are you grateful? Is it romantic? Google Trends data shows "π₯° meaning" peaked at 99 in Q2 2023, far outpacing searches for "heart eyes emoji" (65). π won the naming lottery ("heart eyes" is self-explanatory). π₯° got stuck with a generic label that doesn't tell you whether it's romantic or platonic.
Lockdowns drove a shift from reactive love emojis ("I see something hot") to feeling-based ones ("I feel loved"). Emojipedia's 2020 report showed π₯° entering the global top 10 while π dropped ranks. When you can't see people in person, the feeling mattered more than the object. Facebook even launched a Care reaction (face hugging a heart) to fill the same niche.
Three things the data says about π₯° that nobody talks about
Love Emoji Twitter Share (April 2020)
Search interest
Where is it used?
π₯°'s emotional fingerprint vs its rivals
Often confused with
Heart-eyes. The most common confusion. π is excited and reactive ("OMG I love this!"). π₯° is warm and contented ("I feel so loved right now"). Emojipedia describes π₯° as "glowing but gratified" vs π as "bouncy and bubbly." Think of it this way: π is the moment you see something you love, π₯° is the afterglow.
Heart-eyes. The most common confusion. π is excited and reactive ("OMG I love this!"). π₯° is warm and contented ("I feel so loved right now"). Emojipedia describes π₯° as "glowing but gratified" vs π as "bouncy and bubbly." Think of it this way: π is the moment you see something you love, π₯° is the afterglow.
Smiling face with smiling eyes. Both have closed, content eyes. But π is general happiness while π₯° is specifically about love and affection (hence the hearts). π works anywhere. π₯° adds a layer of warmth that π doesn't have.
Smiling face with smiling eyes. Both have closed, content eyes. But π is general happiness while π₯° is specifically about love and affection (hence the hearts). π works anywhere. π₯° adds a layer of warmth that π doesn't have.
Pleading face. Both were in the same Unicode 11.0 batch (2018). π₯Ί is "please, that's so sweet" with puppy-dog eyes. π₯° is "I'm glowing with happiness." π₯Ί asks for something. π₯° is already receiving it. π₯Ί actually overtook π₯° in Twitter popularity by 2020.
Pleading face. Both were in the same Unicode 11.0 batch (2018). π₯Ί is "please, that's so sweet" with puppy-dog eyes. π₯° is "I'm glowing with happiness." π₯Ί asks for something. π₯° is already receiving it. π₯Ί actually overtook π₯° in Twitter popularity by 2020.
π₯° is warm and contented ("I feel loved right now"). π is excited and reactive ("OMG I love this!"). Think of π as the moment you see something amazing, and π₯° as the afterglow. Emojipedia notes π₯° is "glowing but gratified" while π is "bouncy and bubbly."
Both were in the same 2018 batch. π₯° is "I'm glowing with love." π₯Ί is "please, that's so sweet" with puppy-dog eyes. π₯° is already receiving love. π₯Ί is hoping for it. π₯Ί overtook π₯° in Twitter popularity by April 2020.
Mapping the love-emoji keyboard
Do's and don'ts
- βUse it to respond to compliments and sweet messages
- βSend it when you're feeling grateful and content
- βReact to wholesome, cute, or heartwarming content
- βUse in couple texting and close friend conversations
- βOveruse it on every message (it loses the warm feeling if it's on everything)
- βSend it in contexts that are clearly negative or sarcastic
- βUse it in formal work communications with people you don't know well
- βConfuse it with π when the tone you want is calm love, not excited infatuation
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Type it as text
Fun facts
- β’The original Unicode name was "Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes And Three Hearts," one of the longest emoji names in the standard.
- β’π₯° won the 2019 World Emoji Award for Most Popular New Emoji at a ceremony in Turin, Italy. The award was based on Emojipedia page views from January to July 2019.
- β’π₯Ί Pleading Face briefly overtook π₯° in 2020-2023 search interest, but the tables have flipped. Google Trends shows π₯° climbing from 16 in early 2020 to 36 in Q1 2026, while π₯Ί collapsed from a 2023 peak of 63 down to 15 by 2026. The pleading era ended; the warm-glow era didn't.
- β’The emoji's rosy cheeks are unusual. Most yellow face emojis don't blush. The cheeks are meant to convey the warmth of feeling loved, like a physical flush.
- β’On most platforms, the hearts float in a specific pattern: two on the right, one on the left. Samsung's version places them differently.
- β’π₯° went from nonexistent to the World Emoji Award winner in under 8 months. It was approved in June 2018 and won in July 2019, one of the fastest emoji-to-award pipelines in Unicode history.
- β’Peer-reviewed sentiment research ranks π at an arousal level of 7.95 while π (its closest "gentle" sibling) scores 7.02. π₯° postdates the dataset, but its design splits the difference: gentle eyes like π, hearts like π. It's why the emoji feels like it sits between the two, because it literally does.
- β’Romance scammers have made π₯° part of a standard playbook. Fraud advisories from Norton LifeLock and the FTC flag heart-cluster emojis, including π₯°, as typical "love-bomb" signals in the early trust-building phase of catfishing, before money is ever requested. The emoji's sincerity is its weapon.
- β’Gender research on emoji usage (Chen et al., 2018 Android study of 134,419 users) found women use emoji more often and a broader variety, and that "π-family" emojis (including π₯° after its release) skew sharply female-sender. But Google Trends shows men are the ones Googling what it means.
Common misinterpretations
- β’Some people use π₯° and π interchangeably, but they carry different energy. Sending π when you mean π₯° makes you look more excited than you might intend. Sending π₯° when you mean π might understate your enthusiasm.
- β’In some cultures where public displays of affection are more reserved, any emoji with hearts can be interpreted as overly romantic even when intended platonically.
In pop culture
- β’π₯° (Smiling Face with Hearts) entered the top 20 emojis faster than almost any emoji before it after its Unicode 11.0 (2018) debut.
- β’The three floating hearts around π₯°'s face filled the "warm, content love" gap between π (attraction) and π (flirty).
- β’During the 2020 pandemic, Emojipedia's analysis showed π₯° entered the global top 10 most-used emojis, displacing the "two hearts" and π down a few ranks. Lockdown isolation apparently drove people toward the "feeling loved" emoji over the "seeing something hot" emoji. Facebook even released a Care emoji (a face hugging a heart) as a reaction β basically admitting π₯°'s niche was so in-demand that platforms needed to create their own version.
- β’π₯° is the most common emoji in self-care and wellness content on Instagram. Yoga influencers, therapists, and wellness brands use it as shorthand for "this is good for your soul." The soft, contented energy maps perfectly to the aesthetics of the wellness industry, in a way that π (too excited) or π (too flirty) never could.
Trivia
For developers
- β’. Single codepoint, no variation selector needed.
- β’On Slack and Discord, this is or . The naming inconsistency between platforms (3 hearts vs hearts) can cause lookup issues in emoji pickers.
- β’If you're building sentiment analysis, π₯° is strongly positive and almost always sincere. It's one of the least sarcastic emojis in the Unicode set.
Approved in Unicode 11.0 in 2018. Its original name was "Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes And Three Hearts." Apple shipped it in iOS 12.1 in October 2018. It won the Most Popular New Emoji award in 2019.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
The gender-interpretation gap in π₯° searches
How do you use π₯°?
Select all that apply
- Smiling Face with Hearts Emoji (Emojipedia)
- Emojiology: Smiling Face with Hearts (Emojipedia Blog)
- World Emoji Award Winners 2019 (Emojipedia Blog)
- A New King: Pleading Face (Emojipedia Blog)
- Smiling Face With Hearts emoji (Dictionary.com)
- What Does π₯° Mean From a Girl? (GirlsAskGuys)
- Most Discussed New Emojis of iOS 12.1 (Emojipedia Blog)
- Emoji Trends That Defined 2020 (Emojipedia Blog)
- COVID-19 and emoji usage (CNN) (CNN)
- Unicode Emoji Versions Chart (Unicode Consortium)
- Emoji Sentiment Ranking v1.0 (Novak et al., PLOS ONE 2015) (JoΕΎef Stefan Institute)
- Through a Gender Lens: Emoji Usage from 134,419 Android Users (Chen et al., 2018) (arXiv)
- Online Dating Scams and Romance-Scam Emoji Playbooks (Norton LifeLock)
- What To Know About Romance Scams (FTC Consumer Advice)
- Top Emojis of 2025: Platform, Country, and Generation Trends (Meltwater)
- Google Trends, 'π₯° meaning' variants 2020-2026 (Google Trends)
Related Emojis
More Smileys & Emotion
All Smileys & Emotion emojis β
Share this emoji
2,000+ emojis deeply researched. One click to copy. No ads.
Open eeemoji β