Gmail for Android rolling out emoji reactions, coming to iOS and web

Abner Li | Oct 3 2023 - 9:59 am PT

Google is bringing emoji reactions to email, starting with Gmail for Android, to let you “express yourself and quickly respond.”

At the bottom of an email, you’ll see an “Add emoji reaction” button with a picker offering the usual complement. For group emails, you’ll see everyone’s reactions, with the ability to tap existing ones. However, this feature isn’t available on messages with more than 20 recipients.

You can touch and hold an emoji to see who sent it. Behind-the-scenes, you have the ability to remove an emoji reaction after you add it as part of the existing Under Send (5 to 30 seconds) feature:

To remove an emoji reaction, in the notification at the bottom of your message, tap Undo. You can only change the “Undo Send” period on your computer.

If the person you send an emoji reaction to doesn’t have a Gmail address, they might receive a “[Name] reacted via Gmail” email with a link. This will also happen if they:

Use an older version of the Gmail app
Set your Conversation view to off
Use a third-party email, like Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook.
Use a work or school account.

Other conditions where emoji reactions won’t work include:

You’re in BCC.
You’ve already sent more than 20 reactions to the same message.
A message is encrypted with Client-side encryption
The sender has a custom reply-to address.

Google tells us that emoji reactions in Gmail are gradually rolling out starting today on Android. It will be available for iOS and web “over the next few months.”