Red heart emoji is black when entered into text, but only in some programs

Y’all found a nice corner case in Unicode, here…

Some history on that might-be-red-or-might-be-black heart:

… https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2582291

U+2665 (regular “black” heart) and U+2764 (heavy “black” heart) might be red, or might be black. It’s device dependent.

U+2665 or U+2764 immediately followed by U+FE0F should be red. Probably.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_in_Unicode

Here are the black (red) heart, and the heavy black (red) heart codes for both the device default (which can be red or black) and the explicit Emoji representations (where the “black” heart or heavy “black” heart is “red”):

Unicode is fun.

Did you read MrHoffman's reply? It's very evident of what's going on. If a site only returns plain text, it can't display a color emoji. It has to resort to the plain black outline.

The two emojis you showed previously are subtly different. Look at the coloration from top to bottom.

One is the black heart, the other is the heavy black heart.

Here are the two different hearts shown in the iPad emoji picker, note the more prominent shifting colors top to bottom on the leftmost, with different (less) shift in the rightmost:

As for the mess here, both renderings (both black and red) are correct for what is called the black heart. Black or text-colored coloring is used with the black heart in text, and red coloring is used when an image is shown.

If your browser is showing this differently, that can be due to the website (as was mentioned above), due to the web browser or other viewing app used, or due to a Safari extension that has been installed.

Every heart you say displays as black is red on my end. Both on my Mac and iPad.

Per MrHoffman's suggestions, I'd agree something on your system is causing the issue. Being browser related, it's more likely to be a bad extension.

Open Safari's preferences and click on the Extensions tab. You don't need to completely remove what you have installed. Just uncheck the box next to each so they're disabled. Test.

tzikeh wrote:

It doesn't work in Patreon comments, Tumblr chat, or Skype.

I even tried to copy/paste a red heart from WhatsApp into here - it pasted the small black one, even when what was on the clipboard was a big red heart.

EDITED TO ADD: I tried using the Unicode for the red heart in Tumblr chat just now (U+2764) and this is what it printed: ❤. Black. Different shape than the other black heart, but not red.

I can not offer any support or insight on your third party websites...

my only recommendation would be avoid using the emoji if this is an issue for you.

You can contact the developer concerning their site/app if you have an issue—if in doubt search the developers website or contact their: Support/Help/FAQ/Known issues/compatibility/updates…

Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support

Contact a third-party vendor - Apple Support

if you think this is a macOS bug— you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here:  http://www.apple.com/feedback 

tzikeh wrote:

MacBook Pro 14" 2023, M2 Pro, Sonoma 14.3

In some programs when I access the emoji keyboard, either though Ctrl-Cmd-Space or through the Edit --> Emoji & Symbols menu, if I click on the red heart, it types a small black heart instead. There doesn't seem to be anything the different programs have in common that would cause this.

♥️ <-- I used Ctrl-Cmd-Space and chose the red heart, and this black heart is what you see.

😃 <--I did the exact same thing to get that smiley face and it works fine, as you can see. It's only ever the heart.

I read this question:

Weird black heart emoji instead of the no… - Apple Community

But no one was able to supply a solution there.

You do not say what "In some programs " (?) I am guessing plain txt...would not render color for example?

there are options:

🖤

❤️

U+2665 is the Black Heart Suit Unicode Character.

you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Per the incorrect emojis, it may be the site substituting them. Facebook does this. You can choose an emoji from the OS supplied font, but as soon as you place it, Facebook's system replaces it with their own version.

tzikeh wrote:

…it *does* display as red: ❤️

That’s the Unicode heavy black heart.

…Now I'll choose it from my emoji menu: ♥️

That’s the Unicode black heart. Different character entirely.

…This is ridiculous.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

:-)

tzikeh wrote:

Selected red heart from emoji menu: ♥️

Used Unicode: ❤

No red hearts in either attempt.

you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here:  Product Feedback - Apple