Objects · Emoji 0.6
📷Camera Emoji
Generally, when someone sends you the 📷 emoji, they're sharing a photo they took with you or referencing a picture they want to show. It's a quick way to say, “Look at this!”
The 📷 emoji represents a traditional camera.
- Unicode
- U+1F4F7
- Released
- 2010
- Shortcode
- :camera:
- Skin tones
- No
01 — Meaning
What does the 📷 Camera emoji mean?
One character, many names — these are the wordings people actually type, all 6 of them.
People also look for it as photo emoji.
02 — Platforms
Camera emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
Vendors keep repainting this one. Counting the archived versions further down, the camera has been drawn in 5 ways.
See the whole set the way each system draws it — iPhone emojis, Android emojis, WhatsApp emojis and Discord emojis.
03 — Copy & codes
Camera emoji copy and paste
Everything here is the same character in different notation — including the shortcode chat apps know it by, :camera:.
All emoji copy and paste →In your code
Different notation, one result: whichever escape you paste, what comes out is U+1F4F7.
04 — How to type
How to type the 📷 Camera emoji
Where the emoji key lives on each system — and the codes for when there is no picker at all.
05 — Download
Camera emoji PNG and SVG
Grab the camera as transparent PNG or SVG. Each system ships its own drawing, and the licence stays with the vendor, all 9 of them.
Emoji PNG library →
Apple
Google
Twitter / X
Facebook
Microsoft
WhatsApp
06 — Combinations
Camera emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around camera for bios, captions and comments. Tap to copy.
All combinations →Want two emojis fused into one sticker instead of set side by side? Emoji Kitchen does that with 📷, and there are more ready-made pairs in emoji combinations and aesthetic emoji combos.
08 — In conversation
What 📷 means from a girl or a guy
Same emoji, different intent depending on who sent it and what came before.
09 — Apps
What 📷 means on TikTok, WhatsApp and Discord
One code point, several readings — where the camera lands changes how it is taken.
11 — Difference
📷 vs 📸 — what is the difference?
Two emojis that get mixed up constantly. They are different characters with different names.
Unicode name: Camera
Code: U+1F4F7 · added 2010
Shortcode: :camera:
Generally, when someone sends you the 📷 emoji, they're sharing a photo they took with you or referencing a picture they want to show.
Unicode name: Camera with Flash
Code: U+1F4F8 · added 2015
Shortcode: :camera_with_flash:
Generally, when someone sends you the 📸 emoji, they’re suggesting you take a photo of something.
12 — History
Where the 📷 Camera emoji came from
This one is older than Unicode emoji: Japanese carriers were drawing it on their handsets years before the standard existed, which it finally joined in 2010.
Same character every time — U+1F4F7 never changed. Only the drawing did, and only because each vendor redraws its own set. Someone on an older phone still sees the older picture.
Long before Unicode had emoji, Japanese carriers shipped their own picture sets.
📷 existed there as
NTT DoCoMo E681, KDDI au E515, SoftBank E008.
Those codes are why it survived into the standard at all — Unicode had to keep Japanese messages readable.
Camera was approved as U+1F4F7 and shipped in Emoji 0.6 (2010). Emoji 0.6 is the original 2010 batch that came over from the Japanese sets.
Every vendor keeps its own artwork, so 📷 is redrawn by Apple, Google, Twitter / X, Facebook, OpenMoji, Samsung, Microsoft, WhatsApp, JoyPixels. The character you send never changes — only the picture does.
13 — FAQ