Emoji (Emoticons) iOS5/iPhone 4 NOT working...

It's the other way round for me. I can see everyone's emoticons, but my girlfriend just sees my emoticons as squares (she hasn't upgraded to iOS5.)

Sorry, to clarify, I'm having the exact same problem as you are.

You're speaking from the perspective of an iOS 5 user, and your girlfriend is the one with iOS4

In my case, I'm the one without iOS 5, and my girlfriend is the one with iOS 5

All I see from her are boxes, but she can see my (non iOS5) emojis fine.

I have the same issue you've all described, and make contact with Apple, who were as much use as a chocolate fireguard! None the less, they suggested I contact one of the several Emoji app creators and flag the issue. The response I got back was as follows:

For iOS 5, Apple has change the encoding of Emoji icons to a newer public encoding. Sadly, because they did not make this change to all previous version of iOS, users running iOS 3 or earlier will not see the icons :-(

We've opened a bug request on Apple, and are waiting to see what they say in response.

So there you go, now you know what the issue is...fingers crossed Apple might actually do something to fix it.

Ralsters

I can confirm this isn't a carrier issue. Apple broke emoji with iOS 5.

iOS5 device to iOS5, no problem

iOS5 device to iOS4, doesn't work properly.

iOS5 device to blackbery, black squares.

I used to be able to type ":)" and iOS4 rendered it to a smiley - now it's just ":)"

Apple please fix this. My wife could care a less about Siri, the iCloud, or 1000 different new features... she wants her emoticons to work as they did in iOS4 (enabled by a third party).

W.

Having contacted a number of devs, they confirmed that Apple is using a different emoji encoding in iOS 5, which is why iOS5 to iOS5 works without a hitch, regardless of carrier

But now, Chomp SMS for Android has been updated to support iOS5 emojis so the following work:

iOS 5 to iOS 5

iOS 5 to Android 2.x (with Chomp SMS app replacing stock SMS app)

The following is still broken:

iOS 5 to iOS 4.x

iOS 5 to Blackberry

I'm satisfied with this resolution for my use, good luck to the rest of you

This is something that Apple should fix. I love apple products, but can't shake the feeeling they purposely utilized a format that is incompatible with earlier versions of iOS, therein creating further impetus for users to upgrade from older model iPhones. I suspect that this newer version of emoji is not used by many other platforms at this time, hence the need for Android emoji app creators to encode their side with a converter. Checking the bulletin boards this was pointed out in earlier beta iOS 5 releases and ignored. Apple does the same thing with OSX from time to time - Creating imcompatibility where there was none.

Just switched to iOS5, and was having the same issue as everyone else. My fiancee has a Droid, and all of a sudden couldn't get any emoji from me when I texted. She had been using the Handcent SMS app. I saw Crimsona's post about using Chomp SMS app on the Droid, so we just switched it over (didn't lose any of her past texts in the process). It worked, she can now see any emoji I send her, including the ones that did look like a square previously.

I am extremely upset about this.. I updated my Iphone 4 to the iOS 5 and have had problems back to back. First the ringtones wouldn't work. Now I can't get my text message alert to STOP going off when I'm already in the text thread.. so while I'm texting, and I receive a text from the same person, I hear a SWOOSH and DING DING.. sometimes DING DING DING DING...

Now after reading this I realize, it's not everyone else's phone that ***** because they can't see the emoticons I send... it's my phone. I prefered using the emoji app without the iOS 5, at least everyone could see my awesome emoticons and not hollow squares. That Galaxy S II Skyrocket is looking nice.

this is going to be a horrible thing to say, but i think it needs to be said:

since the passing of Steve there have been no updates, fixes, nothing.... it leaves one to wonder what is happening in Cupertino as some of these issues (emojis not working, cloud passwords getting reset, etc) would have been addressed and fixed by now......

I have the same issue of ios 5 not sending emoji to my 3G 8gb phone and I have to say I think it's about time to get another phone issue after issue and my wife is talking some much crap I am steady stickn up for apple products but she's right apple has a lot of things always wrong for these super expensive devices which she proved to me are not even as fast as cheaper electronics her Motorola cliq xt waxed my iphone4 on iOS 5 in a speed test on certain functions mainly web browsing needless to say I felt like shid because I was like watch my iPhone blast your pinche android nope I was wrong and now Now I can't even make her smile with my little emojis since I made her use my 3G on 4.1 she is now going back thanks apple you just lost another customer that I was saling no commission btw ... That being said galaxy s 2 looking good right now . Fix the emoji apple !!! This *** ios5 bugs seriously it's almost 2012 this **** should be already worked out since it was noted in beta of the same issue .<(•)> illuminati

Jeff —

You're an idiot. This has nothing to do with Steve Jobs, his death, or Cupertino's incompetence. This is exactly how things have gone since the original iphone. Apple has been working hard and fast on fixes for bugs that are present in iOS 5, and things like this take time. I'm a developer, and I often see the disparity between the expectation of users and the reality of development.

I came here looking for a fix because my wife's phone was having issues (iOS4/3g). We're all disappointed. But get real — they're freaking cartoons. Lighten up a bit.

Ditto,

My wife has a iPhone 3G (4.2.1), I now have an iPhone 4S (5.0.1) -had a matching 3G prior.

The 3G(s) Emoji communication worked flawlessly (when both were jail-broke and also after reformat), once I purchased the 4S (5.0), I can see her messages with Emoji characters, but she can not see mine unless I copy and paste one from her.

I think you will just have to upgrade. Emoji were given an internationally agreed allocation in Unicode about a year ago to replace the various unofficial private encodings used previously. iOS 5 has adopted the new standard and I can't imagine Apple is going to go backwards in that area to become compatible with the earlier situation.

Just a small update: go SMS for Android has now been updated to support iOS 5. Works perfectly, have the choice between go SMS and Chomp SMS now

I am a freelance Apple consultant and IT go-to guy, and I have to say that I am also disappointed that ios5 broke my ability to use emoji not only to my clients, but to my numerous friends who have and/or can't afford to upgrade to devices that are not ios5 eligible. It's certainly discouraging. I do wish Apple would maintain a better level of backward compatibility, esp. when it comes to simple things like emoji from ios4 to 5. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!