Before Mac OS X 10.7, you could only use emoji characters by installing an app. Luckily, with Mac OS X 10.7 and higher, emoji can be used without an app. If you haven’t found out where emoji is hidden, it’s because Apple has done a pretty good job of hiding it. So, here’s how to use emoji on a Mac:
Go to your app of choice – wherever you want to use emoji characters. Note: There are many apps and Web services that do not support emoji.
Click on the “Edit” menu and go down to the last option: Special Characters. For those that like keyboard shortcuts, it’s “Option+Command+T”.
The Special Characters window will open up. From here select “Emoji” on the left side – the second to last item.
Find the character that you want to use within the categories: people, nature, objects, places, symbols. When you find one, double click on it to add it to the textarea in the app that you’re using.
If the character does not show up, that means the app or website you’re using does not support emoji. So there you have it – no apps needed for emoji on your Mac.
