Emojis make your expression more vibrant and active, like when you text or post your photos with smiley faces, hearts, or fun icons.  Adding emojis to your photos is a quick and easy way to enhance them with personality, humor, or emotion. Whether you’re editing for social media, creating memes, or just personalizing an image, there are various ways available to help. This tutorial will teach you to add emojis to the photo in 9 ways, including using online tools and apps on different social platforms.  

What is a emoji

An emoji is a small digital icon that represents emotions, objects, or symbols. In internet chatting or social sharing, people like to use emojis in text messages, social posts, etc. to exchange their feelings and make communication more appealing. This also adds humor, and personalization to the content. Plus, adding emojis can achieve creative purposes as well.

How to add emoji to photo online free

There are too many ways to add emoji to photo. The easiest ways are using online emoji photo editors that don’t require you to download anything. 

IMAGE ONLINE

IMAGE ONLINE is an online free tool that you can use to add emojis in photos with ease and instantly. It offers you many default emoji icons, or you can upload your custom ones. The website offers the option to adjust emoji transparency and put them anywhere on the image you prefer. Registration and payment are not required, so it’s a convenient choice to edit photos online. You are free to download your edited emoji picture in JPG or PNG format.

Here is how to use it:

  1. Upload the photo to the platform.
  1. Click on the emojis on the right panel and adjust the locations on the image that you prefer. You can also click on the Add custom emojis button to upload your own emojis.
  1. From the slide bar below, you can add the transparency of the emoji if necessary.
  2. When you are done, click to download the image. 

Fotor

Fotor is a powerful online photo editor that makes it simple to add emoji to photo in just a few clicks. It comes with a wide range of emoji stickers that can be applied to customize the photos with fun and expressive icons. Fotor also allows users to remove emoji from photos, adjust emoji size, change color, transparency, and shadow effects. Apart from online editing, Fotor is also a mobile app on iOS and Android, so users can conveniently use it as a mobile photo emoji maker.

Here is how to use it:

  1. Upload a photo that you want to add the emojis.
  1. From the available emoji stickers, choose the one that you like.
  2. Adjust the location, color as you want.
  3. After finishing, click “download” to save your emoji image.

How to add emoji to photo on iPhone & Android

As said previously, Fotor also has app versions so that you can add emojis. But, here we will introduce using the built-in app in both Android and iOS phones in case you don’t want to download an extra photo emoji maker app. 

iPhone Photos App

Markup feature in the Photos app lets you add emojis to your images smoothly. You can use it to add text, drawings, and stickers including emojis. It is a built-in tool that you don’t need to download and install anything, thus this is a very useful and convenient tool. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. Open the Photos app and locate the image that you want to edit.
  2. Press Edit in the top-right corner.
  1. Press the pen icon in the top-right corner.
  1. Press the + sign at the bottom of the screen, then tap Add Sticker.

  1. Press the emoji tab to browse available emojis.

  1. Choose the emoji you like and position it on your photo. To make it smaller, drag the blue corner circles, and to turn it, use two fingers.
  2. When you’re happy with the positioning, press Done to close the editing menu. Press Done again to save your changes.

Android Google Photos

If you are an Android user, Google Photos also helps create emoji from photo. It is a bit different from using iPhone Photos, cause it doesn’t have an emoji library but instead invokes input keyboard’s emojis templates.

  1. Open your Google Photos app and open the desired photo.
  2. Tap Edit.
  1. Choose Markup from the bottom. Tap Text. 
  1. It will ask you to edit something. Just select the emojis from your keyboard and edit with them. 
  2. You can make adjustments such as resizing emoji or inserting text.

How to add emoji to photo on Instagram

Instagram is a popular social media platform that many people use. A lot of them like to share and post their life, fashion, and opinions on it. And the platform does offer you the options to edit the photos with emojis. Here are the steps. 

  1. Open your Instagram and open the photo that you want to edit. Then click on the Next button.
  1. You will be redirected to the new page to edit. Click on the Aa button and you can add the emojis.
  1. You can also adjust the location after your editing. 
  1. You can also add emojis of some more dramatic icons. Choose Reel and choose the photo. Click on the Image icon
  1. You can choose a lot of emojis, you can even search for the emoji that you want. 
  1. Choose the emojis and adjust the location you want. 
  2. After that you can share the reef or you can screenshot the emoji-added photo.

How to add emoji in photo on Snapchat

Snapchat is an instant messaging application that has filters, stickers, and editing options. Its most used feature is the ability to add emojis in photos before posting snaps. Following are steps to add emojis in photo on Snapchat:

  1. Open the Snapchat application and take a new photo, or choose one from your gallery.
  2. Tap the sticker icon (folded cornered square) on the right of the screen.
  3. Select the Emoji tab to find available emojis.
  4. Tap an emoji to add it to your photo. You can drag, resize, and rotate it with pinch gestures.
  5. Once you’re happy with the edits, press the Send button to send your snap or save it to your phone.

How to add emoji in photo on Twitter/X

Twitter, or X as it is now known, allows the posting of images along with text, videos, and GIFs. You can add an emoji prior to posting if you would like to personalize your images. Here is how.

Steps to Add Emoji in Photo on Twitter/X:

  1. Open the Twitter/X app and tap on the + then Photos to create a new post.
  1. Click on the vertical three dots to enter the editing page.
  1. Click on the smiley icon. You will enter the emoji gallery. Choose one emoji that you like.
  1. After choosing, adjust the preferred location.

How to add emoji in photo on Facebook

Facebook offers a simple way of adding emojis to photos using its built-in sticker tool. It allows you to include funny emojis in your photos before posting. Here’s how you can do that:

  1. Open the Facebook app and start making a new post.
  2. Click on the Photo/Video and select the image that you want to edit.
  3. Once you have uploaded the image, click the Edit button.
  4. Tap the smiley face icon in the editing menu.
  5. Scroll through the available emoji stickers and select one to add to your photo.
  6. Resize, move or rotate the emoji as needed.
  7. Tap Done to save your changes, then share your photo.

How to add emoji in photo on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional network, but you can still add emojis to photos to add a bit more personality to your posts. LinkedIn doesn’t have an emoji sticker tool integrated, but you can use the keyboard emoji before you post your image. Here’s how:

  1. Open LinkedIn and start a new post.
  2. Click on the Photo icon and select your photo.
  3. Enter your caption and any other text. Click on the smiley icon on the keyboard, and you can choose the emoji to insert.
  4. Tap Post to upload your picture with emojis.

How to add emoji in photo on WhatsApp

Inserting emojis on your photos in WhatsApp is simple and does not require any third-party application. The app’s built-in editor makes it easy to create emoji from photo before sending them via chats. This is how you do that:

  1. Open WhatsApp and select a chat.
  2. Click the camera button to take a picture or select one from your gallery.
  3. When you have selected the photo, click the smiley face icon.
  4. Choose an emoji from those provided.
  5. Drag the emoji to the intended location on the photo.
  6. Pinch to scale or turn the emoji as required.
  7. Tap the send button to post the modified photo.

How to add emoji to photo with Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop Express is a powerful mobile editing app that allows users to enhance photos with various tools, including stickers and emojis. With its simple interface, it is simple to add an emoji to a photo in a few simple steps. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. Open the Adobe Photoshop Express app and log in using your Adobe, Google, or Facebook account.
  2. Select the photo you want to edit.
  3. Tap the Stickers icon at the bottom of the screen.
  1. Swipe through different sticker categories, like emoji stickers.
  2. Tap an emoji to insert it onto your photo.
  3. Tap-hold to move the emoji and use the corner handles to rotate or resize it.
  4. Tap the X icon if you want to remove the emoji.
  5. When satisfied with the picture, tap Save to download the modified photo.

Tip:

If you want to use the desktop version of Photoshop to add the emoji:

  1. Open the photo and click on the Horizontal Type Tool.
  1. Search for emoji.
  1. Choose the image and save your photo.

Conclusion

Adding emojis to photos is a fun way to personalize your images. Whether you choose an emoji photo editor online, use built-in apps, or use social apps, there are many ways to make your photos more engaging. Pick your preferred tool and start creating unique emoji images.

By Dolores Xiao

I am a content creator and marketer with over 5 years of professional writing experience. I hold a bachelor's degree in communications and have a natural curiosity about technology, as evidenced by my technology blog. As an avid traveler, I draw upon adventures in over 10 countries to inject unique cultural perspectives into my articles and social media campaigns. I thrive on developing engaging content that informs and inspires audiences.