Sparkling Heart

Excited affection — a heart talking in exclamation points. It fits congratulations, admiration and this-made-my-day delight. In Emojipedia's 2020 Twitter analysis, the plain red heart and the playing-card heart suit were more tied to romance and flirting than decorated hearts like this one, whose sparkles mostly add style.

It started on Japanese phones. Emoji were already in use there by 1999, each mobile carrier with its own incompatible set: DoCoMo labelled its version “Black Heart,” while KDDI and SoftBank described a shining heart. Unicode merged these sets into shared standard codes, so the heart can travel between phones and apps, though each platform still draws its own version.

What does it mean when someone sends you 💖?

Warmth and hype — rarely a love confession on its own. Under your good news they're excited for you; under your photo they're admiring what's shown. From a crush it's friendly and promising, but the words around it carry any romance. Check how that person usually texts: some put 💖 on everything.

Why does 💖 look red on some apps?

Same character, different artwork. In a 2021 comparison, Twemoji — the emoji art Twitter used — drew decorated hearts like this in red, while most other platforms drew them pink. The other person may see a different shade than you do.