Reaction emojis for Apple email

Mfunsten wrote:

So are you saying the Apple “HA HA” reaction emoji is not an emoji?

IdrisSeabright is correct. That’s not an emoji.

The Emojis are available from the Emoji keyboard; in the Emoji picker.

The reactions images and animations over in Messages are not that; not Emojis.

Here? You can embed an image of whatever you want in a mail message, of course.

Emoji picker looks like this on recent iPadOS (you’re on a very old version and where the picker will look different:

And inserting an image into mail (and here showing how to select which size, after having tapped the image insert tool and selected a photo) using iPadOS 16:

If you’d like Messages-like reactions added to Mail, send Apple feedback: Product Feedback - Apple

You cannot create your own emojis. You can only use supported emojis that have been approved by the Unicode emoji subcommittee:

https://unicode.org/emoji/techindex.html

You can find information about using available emojis with your iPad and iPhone here:

Use emoji on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Mfunsten wrote:

So are you saying the Apple “HA HA” reaction emoji is not an emoji?

If you mean the "Ha Ha" in the reactions in Messages, no, I don't believe it's an emoji. Not all tiny, cartoonish pictures are emoji.

I’m saying that the available emojis are determined by Unicode - not Apple.

That said, the graphic associated with each standard Unicode emoji may stylistically differ between OS platforms and device manufacturers - i.e., the picture/graphic may appear different between different devices and OS platforms.

Unicode is just one set of standards to which computer Operating Systems will comply.

The custom Apple-specific animations that you can use with iMessage are not emojis. These graphics are Apple-proprietary - and used only between users of Apple devices using the iMessage service.

I hope this clarification helps with understanding the fundamental differences between emojis and system-proprietary features.

You’re very welcome.

Hopefully the additional information provided by MrHoffman will have also provided some useful clarity.