I recently sent a message to my boss to let him know that I would be a bit late. The bus hadn't arrived despite a 30 minute wait in the freezing cold. To illustrate, I added an emoji of a snowflake and a snowman from my iPhone and sent them to his Android phone (an LG G3, in case you're wondering). Thankfully, those emoji didn't get lost in translation, but I panicked for a second wondering whether they'd appeared as a love heart or a poop on his phone.

The reason I panicked is because just a few weeks ago I had spend far too much of my time creating a story made completely from emoji, which I sent to a group of friends via Facebook Messenger. Not one of those friends replied to say how awesome my story was (and it really was awesome) and I soon discovered why: on their Android smartphones it made absolutely no sense whatsoever because the emoji were all different! I was devastated.

So I decided to do a bit of digging to help anyone else in the same situation avoid such disappointment or embarrassment. Here are the top 9 emoji that have a completely different meaning on Android than they do on iOS. I've based this on the Google default emoji, but they can be even different still depending on the manufacturer of the smartphone.

iOS:

Android:

The Google version looks like an emoji that's keeping a secret with a zipped up mouth. The iOS one looks like a slightly shocked emoji. So depending on what the context of the conversation is, this could get pretty confusing.

iOS: 

Android:

Now, correct me if you think I'm wrong here but doesn't that Android cat look really upset? But the iOS cat looks shocked, right? Definitely different meanings there if you ask me.

iOS:

Android:

This one is one that I'd really watch out for. The iOS dancers look reasonably innocent, while the Android alternative to that emoji looks like a Playboy bunny...

iOS:

Android:

Yellow heart on iOS = Spiky pink heart on Android. Whoops.

iOS:

Android:

The talented Flamenco dancer in iOS becomes what looks like either a terrible Elvis impersonator or my dad dancing at a wedding on Android.

iOS:

Android:

Talking of weddings, the bride in iOS becomes some sort of pink-haired princess on Android.

iOS:

Android:

These two are pretty similar, but if you're using the eight ball on iOS as a sort of future-gazing/predictions emoticon then it'll become snooker plain and simple on Android.

iOS:

Android:

Gah I hate those horrible squishy seats on planes, don't you? Except if you're an Android user, in which case those seats become wooden kitchen chairs.

iOS:

Android:

The nice blue heart on iOS becomes an heart of ice on Android, which to me has some negative connotations, don't you think?

Do you know of any emoji mistranslations that I've missed? Let me know in the comments section below or on Twitter: @TechAdvisorUK or @AshleighAllsopp

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