How to change emoji to Xiaomi: from standard to iOS-style in 5 minutes

Emoji on Xiaomi smartphones are often the subject of controversy: someone likes standard MIUI icons with their bright colors and rounded shapes, and someone dreams of laconic Apple symbols or universal Google emojis. Fortunately, you can change their appearance without root rights - just know a few proven ways.

In this article, we will discuss three working methods for changing emojis on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices (including models on MIUI 12/13/14 and HyperOS): from simple installation of themes to manually replacing fonts through ADB. You will also learn why emoji can be reset to standard ones after updating the system, and how to avoid this. If you are tired of “childish” emojis or want to unify the kind of messages with your friends’ iPhone, read on.

Why Xiaomi Emojis Look Different Than They Do on iPhones or Samsungs

All smartphones use system fonts that have emoji sets sewn into them. Xiaomi has Noto Color Emoji fonts (newer versions of MIUI) or custom icons from the company, which are different from:

• 🍎 Apple (iOS) – Minimalistic, with clear contours and realistic colors (for example, 😂 mouthful).
• 🤖 Google (Android) – more rounded, with soft transitions and “cartoon” style (👍 white-circuit).
• 📱 Samsung (One UI) — bright 3D-shadow (😊 convex»).

The difference is noticeable when you send messages between devices, for example, if you send them. 🥳 If you're going to use Xiaomi on your iPhone, you're going to see a different design, and it's not a bug, it's a feature of Unicode characters, and each manufacturer interprets them differently.

Also, Xiaomi sometimes updates the emoji along with the firmware. MIUI 14 new icons appeared for the 🧑💻 (computer-man) and 🪫 (HyperOS is closer to Google's Material You, but if you don't like the changes, you can roll them back.

Method 1: Change emojis through MIUI themes (without root)

The easiest way is to use the built-in themes in MIUI, many of which contain alternative emoji sets, including iOS and Samsung simulations, plus ways: don't download anything from third-party sources or risk system stability.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the Themes app (the icon with a brush on your desktop).
2. Go to the Profile section → My subjects. → Fonts.
3. In the search bar, enter the emoji or emoji request.
4. Select your favorite theme (e.g., “iOS 16 Emoji Font” or Samsung One UI Emoji).
5. Click Apply and confirm the changes.

After applying the theme, reboot your smartphone. Emoji will change in all applications except for some messengers (for example, Telegram uses its icons).

Backup of important messages

Check the space available (themes weigh 10–50 MB)

Connect to Wi-Fi (downloading themes wastes traffic)

Close all messengers before use-->

⚠️ Attention: Some topics from the store MIUI They may contain ads or collect data. Before installation, read reviews and ratings — select topics with a score above 4.5.★ and downloads from 10,000+.

Method 2: Install custom font through ADB (for advanced)

If the theme store doesn’t have a suitable option, you can manually replace the system font with an emoji via ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which requires USB debugging and command line work, but gives you complete control over the appearance of the characters.

What you need:

• 🖥️ Computer with installed ADB Tools.
• 📱 Xiaomi smartphone with debugging enabled (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI — Press 7 times, then Settings → Additionally. → For developers → Debugging by USB).
• 📁 Font with emoji in.ttf format (for example, AppleColorEmoji.ttf or NotoColorEmoji.ttf).

Instructions:

1. Connect the phone to the PC and confirm debugging on the smartphone screen.


2. Copy the font to a folder with ADB (e.g., C:\platform-tools\).




3. Open the command line in this folder and do:




Adb devices (Connection Check)




adb shell




su (if there is root)




mount -o rw,remount /system




Replace the system font:




adb push AppleColorEmoji.ttf /system/fonts/




adb shell chmod 644 /system/fonts/AppleColorEmoji.ttf




5.Reboot the device: adb reboot

If you don’t have root rights, you can install the font locally to the user (without replacing system files) via the iFont or FontFix app, but in this case, the emoji will only change in some applications (for example, in SMS, but not in Chrome).

⚠️ Warning: Incorrectly replacing system fonts can cause app dyeing or bootloop (cyclical reboot).Before experimenting, back up through MIUI backup TWRP (if established).

Method 3: Third-party applications to replace emojis

If the first two methods seem complicated, you can use specialized applications from Google Play, which do not change the system fonts, but replace emoji on the fly in certain messengers. VK Emojis will remain standard).

Top.-3 emoji-changer:

• 📲 Emoji Changer Keyboard - keyboard with support for iOS, Samsung and Google emoji. Works on WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS.
• 🎨 Textra SMS — alternative SMS-Messenger with a choice of style emoji supports animation and dark theme.
• 🔄 Emoji Switcher – a utility for quick switching between emoji sets (requires) ADB full-time).

Example of Emoji Changer Keyboard:

1. Install the app from Google Play.
2. Activate the keyboard in Settings → System → Language and input → Virtual keyboard.
3. Select the style of emoji in the application settings (iOS 16, Samsung One UI, etc.).
4. In messengers, when entering text, use this keyboard - emoji will be displayed in the selected style.

💡

If the emojis have not changed after installing the application, clear the messenger cache (Settings → Applications → [Messenger] → Memory → Clear the cache).

Problems after changing emojis and how to fix them

Even after successful emoji replacement, Xiaomi users face typical problems, and here are the most common ways to solve them:

If after replacing the fonts, the applications began to fly out, return the standard font with the command:

adb shell


su




mount -o rw,remount /system




rm /system/fonts/[name font].ttf




reboot

HyperOS models (such as the Xiaomi 14 or Redmi Note 13) may need to roll back to factory firmware if the emojis "break" after experimenting.Use the Mi Flash Tool and the official ROM from Xiaomi's site.

💡

Before any type manipulation, check if your Xiaomi model supports bootloader unlocking. On some devices (like POCO F5), this may void the warranty.

How to Get Back Standard MIUI Emojis

If you are disappointed with the experiments with the appearance of emojis, you can return the original icons in two ways:

1. Through themes: Open Topics → My Themes → Fonts. Find a Default theme (MIUI) or System font. Apply it and restart the device.

Through the dump:

• Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
• Select Reset font settings (if any) or Reset all settings (remove only personalization, not data).