Computer and tech emoji meanings
Laptop is the all-purpose computer emoji: work, coding, studying, “I'm on my computer”. Desktop computer leans toward a fixed setup, an office or a gaming rig, and keyboard with mouse stands for typing, grinding through work or arguing online. Mobile phone means “text me” or “I saw it on my phone”, and (phone with arrow) is the usual way to say “call me” or “download the app”.
Technologist is the coder, developer or IT person; robot now mostly means a bot or AI. Bug gets used literally for a software bug, for cloud storage, for a link and for a website or language setting. Floppy disk survives as the universal save icon long after the disks disappeared, and / double as “full of energy” and “drained”.
Security and settings have their own set: for passwords and privacy, for antivirus and protection, for settings and for fixes and maintenance. Signal and connection use (antenna bars) and (wireless, the Wi-Fi emoji added in Unicode 15.0 in 2022).
Mac keyboard symbols and their names
Apple prints its modifier keys as symbols, and menus show shortcuts the same way. is Command, is Option, is Shift, is Control and is Caps Lock. So ⌘⇧4 means CommandShift4, the screenshot shortcut.
The editing keys follow the same idea: or is Return/Enter, is Delete (backspace), is forward delete, is Escape, is Tab and is back-tab. and stand for Page Up and Page Down, for Home, and for Clear on numeric keypads. On many Linux and ISO-standard keyboards marks Control and marks Alt.
These are ordinary Unicode characters, so you can paste them into documentation, a README or a chat message and they show up as text, not images. That is why shortcut guides look the same on every site.
Power, window and computer symbols
The power symbols come from the IEC 60417 standard; power (standby), power on/off, power on and sleep were added to Unicode 9.0 in 2016 after a public proposal, and the older heavy circle serves as power off. The line and circle are usually explained as the binary 1 and 0, on and off.
Old Windows fonts left a whole drawer of computer icons in Unicode: old personal computer, hard disk, floppies, keyboard, mouse, printer and networked computers, plus window controls (minimize, maximize, restore, close). Picture symbols for control characters, like escape, delete, newline and visible space, are handy when you need to show an invisible key in text.
For screens and video there are squared labels such as HDR, 4K and 8K, and for electronics earth ground, direct current and alternating current.
How to type computer symbols on Windows, Mac and phones
On a phone, search the emoji keyboard for “computer”, “laptop” or “robot”. On a Mac, press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer, where searching “command” or “option” finds and . On Windows, Win+. opens the emoji panel, which also has a symbols tab.
Key symbols like have no standard Alt code, so the quickest route everywhere is to copy them from this page. In HTML you can write ⌘ for and ⌥ for .
Symbols
157Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Keyboard key symbols
⌘ Command, ⌥ Option, ⇧ Shift, ⌃ Control
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copyComputer Emoji & Keyboard Symbols combos
13Worth knowing
- The Command symbol was chosen by Apple designer Susan Kare in 1984 from a symbol dictionary, where it marked places of interest; its Unicode name is still PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN.
- The power symbols only reached Unicode in version 9.0 (2016), decades after they appeared on hardware.
- is still the save icon in most software, even though many people who click it have never held a floppy disk.
- and the window controls came into Unicode 7.0 (2014) to cover Microsoft's Wingdings and Webdings fonts.
Questions people ask
7How do I copy and paste computer emoji?
Tap any emoji or symbol on this page to copy it, then paste it anywhere. work on every modern phone and computer.
What are the Mac keyboard symbols called?
Command, Option, Shift, Control, Caps Lock, Return, Delete, Forward Delete, Escape, Tab.
What does the computer emoji mean?
means work, coding, studying or simply being on the computer. points more to a desktop setup, and to a programmer or someone in IT.
How do I type the command symbol ?
Copy from this page, or on a Mac open the Character Viewer with ControlCommandSpace and search “command”. In HTML use ⌘.
Is there a Wi-Fi emoji?
Yes. Wireless was added in Unicode 15.0 (2022). On older devices antenna bars is the usual stand-in.
What is the power symbol ?
is the IEC standby/power symbol found on power buttons. Related ones: power on/off, power on, power off, sleep.
What are good tech emoji combos?
for coding with coffee, for fixing a bug, for saved, for a dying phone.
