How to make emojis like on iPhone on Xiaomi smartphones: 5 working ways

The emojis on Xiaomi and iPhone are as different as the sky and the earth: Apple emojis look neat and minimalistic, and in MIUI they often seem overloaded with detail or just plain ridiculous. If you switched from iPhone to Redmi, Poco or Mi, the difference in emoji design can be annoying - especially when your chat messages look different than your friends. Fortunately, there are several ways to bring the emoji on Xiaomi to the look as close as possible to iOS.

But before you change your emoji, you have to understand that you can't get a completely identical emoji without deep flashing, but you can go 80 to 90 percent closer to the original. In this article, we'll look at all the current techniques, from simple applications to manual editing of system files, and compare what the popular emojis on iPhone and Xiaomi look like in 2026.

Why are Xiaomi and iPhone emojis different?

The design of the emoji depends on the system font that the smartphone uses, with Apple using the proprietary Apple Color Emoji font, and Xiaomi using a modified version of the Noto Color Emoji (or MiSans in newer versions of MIUI), which are not only visually different, but also have different support for Unicode, the standard that defines how characters are displayed.

Key reasons for the differences:

• 🎨 Design style: Apple sticks to flat minimalism, and Xiaomi often adds volume and shadows.
• 🔄 Unicode updates: iOS is faster to implement new emojis, while MIUI It may be a 1-2 version behind.
• 📱 Device manufacturer: Even on Android, emojis may differ from Samsung, Google Pixel and Xiaomi.

For example, emojis 😂 On the iPhone, it looks like a slightly smiling face with tears, and on Xiaomi, it looks like a mouth wide open with huge eyes. 🍎: Apple has a realistic apple with a leaf, and MIUI — It's a cartoon version with a bright green foliage, and it's a little eye-popping if you're used to the aesthetics of iOS.

Method 1: Installation of an application with an iPhone emoji

The easiest and safest method is to use third-party keyboards or apps that replace the display of emojis.This doesn't change the system font, but allows you to insert iPhone-style emojis into messages.

The best applications for this task:

• 📲 Emoji Fonts for Flipfont (requires root for full replacement, but works without it).
• ⌨️ Gboard (Google keyboard) with enabled setting Show iOS-style emoji (not available in all regions).
• 🎨 iFont – allows you to install custom fonts, including emoji (root or Magisk needed).
• 📱 Textra SMS — messenger with support for alternative emojis.

Example of settings via Gboard:

1. Install Gboard from Google Play.
2. Open the keyboard settings: Settings → System → Keyboard → Gboard.
3. Select Themes → Emoji and enable the iOS Style option (if available).
4. Reboot your smartphone.

Download Gboard or iFont from Google Play|

Check the Android version (should be 9.0+)|

Make a backup of the data (in case of failure)|

Disable other keyboards in settings-->

⚠️ Note: Apps like iFont require super-user rights to completely replace fonts, and without root, they only work within the application itself, not throughout the system.

Method 2: Replace font through Magisk (for stitched devices)

If your Xiaomi has an unlocked bootloader and Magisk installed, you can replace the system emoji font with an iPhone, which is the closest to the original result, but requires technical skills.

Step-by-step:

1. Download the iOS Emoji for Magisk module from the XDA Developers or GitHub forum.
2. Open Magisk Manager and go to the Modules section.
3. Click Install from Storage and select the downloaded file.
4. Reset the device.

Once you reboot, the emojis will change to the iOS style, but there are some nuances:

• ✅ Works in all applications (including WhatsApp, Telegram).
• ❌ It may break after the update. MIUI.
• ⚠️ Some emojis may not display correctly (e.g. flags or new symbols).

Important: Modules for Magisk may conflict with some MIUI features, such as Second Space or Child Mode.

Method 3: Manual editing of system files (for experienced)

This method is only suitable for users with root rights and a backup system, and involves replacing font files manually through a file manager with superuser rights (such as Root Explorer or Mixplorer).

Instructions:

1. Download the archive with Apple Color Emoji fonts (available on XDA or Telegram channels of modders).
2. Unpack the archive and find files with the.ttf or.otf extension.
3. Copy them into /system/fonts/ (or /system/product/fonts/ in newer versions of MIUI).
4. Change the access rights to 644 (rw-r----).
5. Reset the device.

List of key files to replace:

⚠️ Note: Incorrect editing of files in /system This can lead to bootloop. Always back up through TWRP change.

Method 4: Use of MIUI Themes

MIUI has a built-in theme feature that sometimes allows you to change the style of emoji, but full replacement with iOS style is difficult to achieve - usually only part of the smiley changes.

How to try it:

1. Open the Themes app on your Xiaomi.
2. In the search, type iOS or emoji.
3. Install one of the themes, such as iOS 16 Style or Apple Emoji Pack.
4. Apply the theme and restart the device.

Limitations of the method:

• 🔄 Emojis are only changed in some applications (most often in the case of a SMS Miui Messaging).
• 🎨 Design can be simplified or incomplete.
• 📱 After updating MIUI topic may be thrown off.

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If there are no suitable options in the “Themes” application, try downloading. APK-Theme file from miuithemes.com and install it manually. To do this, allow installation from unknown sources in the security settings.

Method 5: Firmware custom ROM with emoji iPhone

Radikal, but the most effective way is to install custom firmware that already has Apple emojis integrated.

• 📱 Pixel Experience (with Google emojis but close to iOS in style).
• 🍎 iOS Emoji Port (modified versions of LineageOS or AOSP).
• 🔧 Havoc-OS (with the option of choosing the style of emoji in the settings).

Installation process:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the Mi Unlock Tool.
2. Install TWRP or another custom recaveri.
3. Download firmware with support for iOS emoji (for example, with XDA or 4PDA).
4. Sweep through the Recovery, first making a wipe (cleaning) of the system, data, cache partitions.

⚠️ Attention: Installation of custom ROM voids Xiaomi warranty and may cause data loss.Before firmware check compatibility with your device model (e.g. Redmi Note 12 Pro)+ POCO F5 require different builds).

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Custom firmware gives you maximum customization freedom, but requires technical knowledge. If you are a beginner, start with methods 1–2 (applications or Magisk).

Comparison of emoji: iPhone vs Xiaomi (2026)

To see how much different emojis are, compare some popular emojis on the iPhone 15 (iOS 17) and Xiaomi 14 (MIUI 15 based on Android 14):

As you can see from the table, there is a difference even in simple emojis, such as: 👍 or 🔥. If aesthetics is important to you, it is justified to change the typeface. 🍕) The difference may be subjectively more pleasing on Xiaomi – it all depends on taste.

Frequent problems and their solutions

When you replace your emoji with Xiaomi, users are faced with common mistakes.

1. Emojis don't change in some apps (like Instagram or VK) Solution: This is because some apps use their own fonts.Try clearing the app's cache or using the method with Magisk.
2. After the MIUI update, the emoji reset.Solution: System updates often overwrite system fonts. Repeat the replacement via Magisk or file manager.
3. Some emojis are displayed in squares (🟨). Solution: This means that the font does not support these characters. Install an additional font via iFont or update the module in Magisk.
4. The smartphone stopped loading after replacing the fonts.Solution: Boot to TWRP and restore the /system partition backup.

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If the emojis on WhatsApp are displayed correctly after replacing them, but not on Telegram, check the chat settings on Telegram. In some cases, the option “Use system emoji” helps in the application settings.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions