Symbols · Emoji 0.6
↖️Up-left Arrow Emoji
Basically, it’s just showing that direction. People use it to point something out that’s above and to the left.
The ↖️ emoji is an up-left arrow.
- Unicode
- U+2196 U+FE0F
- Released
- 2010
- Shortcode
- :arrow_
upper_ left: - Skin tones
- No
01 — Meaning
What does the ↖️ Up-left Arrow emoji mean?
People search for it under a lot of different names. All of these point at the same character.
02 — Platforms
Up-left Arrow emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and X
Same code on both ends, different drawing on each screen — here is the up-left 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
Up-left 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 :arrow_upper_left:.
All emoji copy and paste →In your code
Different notation, one result: whichever escape you paste, what comes out is U+2196.
04 — How to type
How to type the ↖️ Up-left Arrow emoji
No picker to hand? The up-left arrow can be typed straight from the keyboard — the codes for that are below, one per system.
05 — Download
Up-left Arrow emoji PNG and SVG
Grab the up-left arrow 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
06 — Combinations
Up-left Arrow emoji combinations
Ready-made combos built around up-left 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
Who sent the up-left arrow and what came before it change the reading more than the emoji itself does.
08 — Apps
What ↖️ means on TikTok, WhatsApp and Discord
One code point, several readings — where the up-left arrow lands changes how it is taken.
10 — Difference
↖️ vs ⬅️ — what is the difference?
Two emojis that get mixed up constantly. They are different characters with different names.
Unicode name: Up-left Arrow
Code: U+2196 U+FE0F · added 2010
Shortcode: :arrow_upper_left:
Basically, it’s just showing that direction.
Unicode name: Left Arrow
Code: U+2B05 U+FE0F · added 2010
Shortcode: :arrow_left:
Generally, the ⬅️ emoji means “backwards” or “returning to the previous thing.”
11 — History
Where the ↖️ Up-left 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+2196 U+FE0F 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 E697, KDDI au E54C, SoftBank E237.
Those codes are why it survived into the standard at all — Unicode had to keep Japanese messages readable.
Up-left Arrow was approved as U+2196 U+FE0F 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