Heart emoji are everywhere — but there are far more of them than most people realise, and each colour and style carries its own meaning. A red heart isn't a yellow heart; a broken heart isn't a sparkling one. This guide is the complete map: what every heart means, organised by colour and by type, with a link to a full breakdown for each.
A quick ground rule first: heart meanings are social conventions, not official definitions. Unicode names the emoji (and we list those names below), but how people use a heart — romance, friendship, sympathy, sarcasm — comes from culture and context, not a rulebook. With that in mind, here's what each one generally signals.
How Heart Emoji Work
Broadly, heart emoji fall into two groups:
- Colour hearts — the same heart shape in different colours. The colour sets the tone: red for romance, yellow for friendship, black for edgy or grieving, and so on.
- Special hearts — hearts with an added effect or state: broken, growing, sparkling, two hearts, and more. These express a feeling or action rather than just a colour mood.
We'll take them in that order.
Heart Emoji by Colour
The colour family is the core set — one heart shape, ten meanings.
| Heart | What it usually means | Full guide |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Classic love, warmth, romance | Red heart → |
| Orange | Warmth, support, non-romantic care | Orange heart → |
| Yellow | Friendship, happiness, sunshine (a Snapchat badge) | Yellow heart → |
| Green | Nature, friendship, playful jealousy | Green heart → |
| Blue | Trust, loyalty, calm | Blue heart → |
| Purple | Affection, compassion, fandom (BTS's "I purple you") | Purple heart → |
| Black | Dark humour, grief, edgy or solidarity | Black heart → |
| White | Purity, peace, sympathy, minimalist | White heart → |
| Brown | Warmth, comfort, solidarity | Brown heart → |
| Pink | Gentle, tender, sweet affection | Pink heart → |
Two newer colour hearts round out the set — light blue and grey (both added in 2022). Their meanings are still settling: light blue leans calm and soft, grey leans neutral or muted.
Heart Emoji by Type (the Special Hearts)
These add an effect or state on top of the heart.
| Heart | What it usually means | Full guide |
|---|---|---|
| Broken | Heartbreak, sadness, sympathy (or drama) | Broken heart → |
| Two hearts | "Love is in the air" (and a Snapchat badge) | Two hearts → |
| Growing | Swelling, growing affection | Growing heart → |
| Sparkling | Excited, sparkly, enthusiastic love | Sparkling heart → |
Other hearts you'll come across
These don't have full guides yet, but here's what they signal:
- Beating heart — a pulsing heartbeat; excitement or "my heart's racing."
- Revolving hearts — two hearts circling each other; mutual, two-way love.
- Heart with arrow — falling in love, infatuation, Cupid's strike.
- Heart with ribbon — a heart given as a gift; love, charity, Valentine's.
- Heart exclamation — emphasis on love or affection.
- Heart on fire — burning passion or intense love.
- Mending heart — healing, recovering after heartbreak.
- Heart suit — the classic small red heart, plain love.
The Snapchat Heart Sequence
One question comes up constantly: which hearts mean something on Snapchat? Only three — and they form a ladder based on how consistently you snap each other. Per Snapchat's own guide:
- Besties (yellow heart) — you're each other's #1 Best Friend right now.
- BFF (red heart) — you've held #1 Best Friend for two weeks in a row.
- Super BFF (two pink hearts) — you've held it for two months in a row (the top level).
Every other heart — and the rest — has no Snapchat meaning. If you see one in a chat, it's just the regular emoji. (And note: the single pink heart is not the badge — the Snapchat "pink hearts" are .)
How to Choose the Right Heart
A quick cheat sheet for picking one on purpose:
- Romance → (classic), (sweet), (gentle), (excited)
- Friendship → (happy), (supportive), (easy), (loyal)
- Fandom → (BTS/K-pop especially)
- Sympathy or grief → (gentle), (mourning)
- Solidarity → and (often together)
- Heartbreak →
- Growing or excited feelings → (building), (sparkly)
When in doubt, the red heart is the safe, all-purpose choice.
Copy & Paste Every Heart
Tap any heart to copy it:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many heart emoji are there? More than a dozen. There are ten solid colour hearts (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown, pink — plus newer light blue and grey), and a set of "special" hearts like broken, two hearts, growing, sparkling, beating, revolving, heart with arrow, and more.
What's the most popular heart emoji? The red heart — it's consistently one of the most-used emoji in the world, and the default "love" heart.
Which heart emoji mean love, and which mean friendship? Love-leaning: . Friendship-leaning: . Several (like ) sit in between or carry special meanings such as fandom.
Which heart emoji are Snapchat badges? Only three: yellow (current #1 Best Friend), red (two weeks), and two pink hearts (two months). No other heart has a Snapchat meaning.
What's the difference between all the pink hearts ( )? is a single soft pink heart (gentle affection); is two pink hearts ("love is in the air", also a Snapchat badge); has rings showing affection growing; has sparkles for excited love.
Do heart emoji mean different things to different people? Yes. Meanings are shaped by culture, age, platform, and context. The readings here are the most widely shared ones, but the same heart can land differently depending on who's sending it and why.
Are heart emoji meanings official? No. Unicode assigns each heart a name and codepoint, but it doesn't define what they "mean" emotionally. Those meanings come from how people actually use them.
How do I copy and paste heart emoji? Tap any heart in the row above to copy it, or open a full guide for the HTML entity and Unicode codepoint of a specific heart.
Start with the popular ones
- Red Heart — the classic love heart
- Pink Heart — gentle, sweet affection
- Two Hearts — "love is in the air" (+ Snapchat)
- Purple Heart — affection, compassion, BTS
Sources
- Unicode — official heart emoji names and codepoints
- Emojipedia — heart emoji meanings and usage
- Snapchat Support — "What do my Friend Emojis mean on Snapchat?" (only / / are heart badges)