Smileys & Emotion · Emoji 1.0
🤗Smiling Face with Open Hands Emoji
Usually, it just means “I’m sending you a hug!” People use it to show they care or want to offer support in a message.
The 🤗 emoji is basically a hug.
- Unicode
- U+1F917
- Released
- 2015
- Shortcode
- :hugging_
face: - Skin tones
- No
- Popularity
- #22 most used
01 — Meaning
What does the 🤗 Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji mean?
One character, many names — these are the wordings people actually type, all 6 of them.
People also look for it as hug emoji, hug face emoji, hugging emoji.
02 — Platforms
Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
The character is always U+1F917 — but every vendor draws it their own way. This is what your smiling face with open hands looks like to the person on the other side.
See the whole set the way each system draws it — iPhone emojis, Android emojis, WhatsApp emojis and Discord emojis.
03 — Copy & codes
Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji copy and paste
Everything here is the same character in different notation — including the shortcode chat apps know it by, :hugging_face:.
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+1F917.
04 — How to type
How to type the 🤗 Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji
Where the emoji key lives on each system — and the codes for when there is no picker at all.
05 — Download
Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji PNG and SVG
Grab the smiling face with open hands 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
Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around smiling face with open hands 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
Chat apps do not change U+1F917, they change what it looks like and what people take it to mean.
11 — Difference
🤗 vs 🫢 — what is the difference?
Two emojis that get mixed up constantly. They are different characters with different names.
Unicode name: Smiling Face with Open Hands
Code: U+1F917 · added 2015
Shortcode: :hugging_face:
Usually, it just means “I’m sending you a hug!”
Unicode name: Face With Open Eyes And Hand Over Mouth
Code: U+1FAE2 · added 2021
Shortcode: :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:
Means shock, surprise, or disbelief, like gasping at something unexpected.
12 — History
Where the 🤗 Smiling Face with Open Hands emoji came from
When it was approved, which release it landed in, and how long phones have had it.
Same character every time — U+1F917 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.
Smiling Face with Open Hands was approved as U+1F917 and shipped in Emoji 1.0 (2015). Phones usually get new artwork about a year after approval, in a system update.
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