Symbols · Emoji 0.6
🔙Back Arrow Emoji
Generally, it just means “go back” or “return to the previous thing we were talking about.” It’s a visual cue to revisit something.
The 🔙 emoji is a simple back arrow.
- Unicode
- U+1F519
- Released
- 2010
- Shortcode
- :back:
- Skin tones
- No
01 — Meaning
What does the 🔙 Back Arrow emoji mean?
One character, many names — these are the wordings people actually type, all 2 of them.
02 — Platforms
Back Arrow emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
Same code on both ends, different drawing on each screen — here is the back arrow as 9 vendors ship it.
See the whole set the way each system draws it — iPhone emojis, Android emojis, WhatsApp emojis and Discord emojis.
03 — Copy & codes
Back Arrow emoji copy and paste
Tap any value to copy it. The emoji itself works everywhere, the escapes are for your code, and the shortcode Slack and Discord expect is :back:.
All emoji copy and paste →In your code
Escapes for the languages people actually paste this into. Every one of them produces the same character, and that character is U+1F519.
04 — How to type
How to type the 🔙 Back Arrow emoji
Every system hides the emoji key somewhere else. Here is where, plus the raw codes for U+1F519 when there is no key at all.
05 — Download
Back Arrow emoji PNG and SVG
Transparent PNG and SVG for thumbnails, decks and design files — one file per vendor, which makes 9. Artwork belongs to whoever drew it, so check the licence before commercial use.
Emoji PNG library →
Apple
Google
Twitter / X
Facebook
06 — Combinations
Back Arrow emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around back arrow 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 for every pair Google has drawn, and there are more ready-made pairs in emoji combinations and aesthetic emoji combos.
07 — In conversation
What 🔙 means from a girl or a guy
The same character carries a different intent depending on the sender and the message before it.
08 — Apps
What 🔙 means on TikTok, WhatsApp and Discord
Chat apps do not change U+1F519, they change what it looks like and what people take it to mean.
10 — Difference
🔙 vs ↪️ — what is the difference?
Two emojis that get mixed up constantly. They are different characters with different names.
Unicode name: Back Arrow
Code: U+1F519 · added 2010
Shortcode: :back:
Generally, it just means “go back” or “return to the previous thing we were talking about.”
Unicode name: Left Arrow Curving Right
Code: U+21AA U+FE0F · added 2010
Shortcode: :arrow_right_hook:
It simply means you're replying to what the person before you said.
11 — History
Where the 🔙 Back Arrow 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+1F519 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
KDDI au EB06.
Those codes are why it survived into the standard at all — Unicode had to keep Japanese messages readable.
Back Arrow was approved as U+1F519 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.
12 — FAQ