How to remove emoji from iPhone on Xiaomi and return standard Android emojis

Are you tired of seeing Apple's square emojis in your Xiaomi messages when everyone else on Android sees the usual round emojis? The problem is familiar to many MIUI smartphone owners - the system automatically replaces standard emojis with iPhone ones if your interlocutor uses an iPhone. This not only spoils the uniformity of chat rooms, but also sometimes distorts the meaning of messages due to differences in design.

In this article, we will look at 7 proven ways to bring native Android emojis back to Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO, from simple customization to deep customization (including methods without root). You will learn why this happens, how to fix it on different versions of MIUI, and what to do if smileys are displayed correctly only in some applications.

Why are Xiaomi displaying emojis from the iPhone?

The reason is because MIUI and messaging protocol work, and when you receive an SMS or messenger message (like WhatsApp or Telegram) from an iPhone user, Xiaomi automatically loads the Apple Color Emoji font to display the emoji as the sender sees them, which is embedded in the logic of Unicode, the standard that defines how emoji should look on different platforms.

The problem, however, is that MIUI doesn’t always correctly switch back to standard Android emojis (the Noto Color Emoji or Google Emoji set), resulting in “foreign” square emojis, even if the person has switched from an iPhone to Android for a long time, especially in:

• 📱 Standard annex Communications (SMS/MMS)
• 💬 Supported messengers RCS (Google Messages, Samsung Messages)
• 📧 Some email clients (Gmail, MI Mail)
• 🎮 Social networks that use cross-platform rendering (Facebook, Instagram)

Interestingly, Telegram or VK can display emoji correctly, depending on whether the app uses its own font or system typeface, for example, Telegram defaults to display emojis in its corporate identity, ignoring the MIUI settings.

Method 1: Reset fonts in MIUI settings (without root)

The easiest method is to reset the cache and data of the system application responsible for displaying fonts. 60% In case the problem is caused by a temporary failure, the instructions are relevant for MIUI 12/13/14 HyperOS:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Show All Apps.
3. In the search bar, enter Fonts or Fonts (in English firmware).
4. Select the Google Fonts app or System Fonts.
5. Click Warehouse → Clear the cache and Clear the data.
6. Reboot your smartphone.

If this app isn't on the list, try finding Android System WebView and doing the same thing with it, and it's responsible for rendering web content, including emojis in some instant messengers.

Make a backup copy of chats in messengers|Remember the current text display settings|Check the space in memory (minimum 500 MB)|Disable auto-update applications during the procedure-->

⚠️ Note: After cleaning up the Google Fonts data, some apps (such as Chrome or Gmail) may temporarily display emojis in monochrome form. This is normal – the fonts will recover automatically 5-10 minutes after connecting to the Internet.

Method 2: Install an alternative keyboard with your own emoji

If the font reset didn't help, try installing a keyboard that uses its own set of emojis, ignoring system settings.The best options for Xiaomi are:

• 🔹 Gboard (from Google) – shows Android-style emojis, but can replace them with iPhones in some chat rooms.
• 🔹 SwiftKey (from Microsoft) – supports several emoji styles, including Twitter and Google.
• 🔹 Fleksy – allows you to choose a set of emojis manually (there is an option Google Noto).
• 🔹 Chroom – Open Source Keyboard and Full Emoji Customization.

How to set up:

1. Install a keyboard from Google Play (such as Gboard).
2. Activate it in Settings → System → Language and input → Current keyboard.
3. Open the keyboard settings (usually through the icon) ⚙️ input-pane).
4. Find the Emoji or Style section and select Google/Android.
5. Reset the messenger in which the problem was observed.

Important: Even with an alternate keyboard, the emoji in the messages received can remain iPhone-based, depending on the application, not the type of input. The keyboard changes only how YOU send the emoji, but not how others see them.

Method 3: Change the system font through MIUI themes

MIUI allows custom themes to be set, which can include alternative fonts with emojis, which doesn't require root, but doesn't work on all firmware. Here's how to do this:

1. Open the Themes app (icon with brush).
2. Go to the Font section (may be in Category → Others).
3. Choose a font marked Emoji or Google in the title. Popular options: Noto Color Emoji Google Sans Emoji Twemoji (Twitter)

Apply

Reset the device.

If the standard theme directory doesn’t have the right typefaces, you can manually download them from sites like DaFont or FontSpace and then install them through the Topics app (Local section). Note that not all fonts contain a full set of emojis — look for files with the.ttf extension and mentioning Emoji in the description.

⚠️ Note: Installation of fonts from unverified sources can lead to malfunctions MIUI, Especially if the file is corrupted or incompatible with your firmware version. Before installing, check other users' reviews and back up the system through Settings. → The phone. → Backup.

Method 4: Editing the fonts.xml file (root required)

For advanced users who are ready to get root rights, there is a radical method - manually changing the priority of fonts in the system file, which is guaranteed to replace iPhone emojis with standard Android, but requires caution.

You'll need:

• 📱 Xiaomi with unlocked bootloader and installed Magisk or SuperSU.
• 🖥️ Root-enabled file manager (such as Root Explorer or Solid Explorer).
• 📄 Backup of the file /system/etc/fonts.xml.

Step-by-step:

1. Download and install Root Explorer.
2. Open /system/etc/fonts.xml file in the text editor.
3. Find a block with AppleColorEmoji.ttf (usually in the <family> section).
4. Comment or delete the lines related to AppleColorEmoji by adding NotoColorEmoji.ttf or GoogleEmoji.ttf above priority.
5. Save the file and restart the device.

Example of changes (see similar block):

<family>


<!-- Remove or comment Apple -->




<!-- <font weight="400">AppleColorEmoji.ttf</font> -->




<font weight="400">NotoColorEmoji.ttf</font>




</family>

Method 5: Using a Magisk module to replace an emoji

If you have Magisk, the safest way to replace an emoji is to install a special module.

• 🔧 Emoji Replacer – allows you to choose any set of emojis, including Google, Twitter, Samsung).
• 🔧 iFont – supports custom fonts with emojis.
• 🔧 Emoji Switcher – Switches system emojis without editing fonts.xml.

How to determine:

1. Download a module (e.g. Emoji Replacer) in.zip format.
2. Open Magisk Manager and go to Modules.
3. Click Install from Storage and select the downloaded file.
4. Reset the device.
5. After downloading, open the module settings (usually via Settings). → Magisk → Modules. → ⚙️) and select the right set of emojis.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ No manual editing of system files.
• ✅ Easy to roll back (remove module is enough).
• ✅ Supports automatic emoji updates.

💡

Before installing the module, check its compatibility with your version of MIUI on the XDA Developers forum. Some modules may conflict with HyperOS or Android 14-based firmware.

Method 6: Disconnection RCS-chat (for chats) SMS-messenger)

If iPhone emojis only appear in SMS, the RCS (Rich Communication Services) protocol that MIUI uses to improve messaging is to blame. When you exchange data with an iPhone via RCS, the system automatically loads Apple fonts for correct display.

To fix this:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Go to Settings. → Additionally. → RCS-chat.
3. Turn off the option to Use RCS or Improved Messages.
4. Clear the app cache (Settings → Applications → Messages → Storage → Clear the cache).

The downside of the method: you will lose the ability to send:

• 📎 Large file size (without restrictions) SMS).
• 🎥 High-quality video.
• ✅ Notice of reading.

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware MIUI shutdown RCS This may cause the messages to be duplicated (and how they come in). SMS, how RCS). In this case, return the settings back and try another way.

Method 7: Reset to factory settings (extreme case)

If none of these methods worked, and if iPhone emojis ruin the experience of using a smartphone, the radical solution is to completely reset the device, which will bring all system fonts back to the "out of the box" state, but remove all data from internal memory.

How to Reset Xiaomi Right:

1. Create a backup through Settings → About Phone → Backup or Mi Cloud.
2. Transfer important files (photos, videos) to your computer or external drive.
3. Open Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
4. Choose to erase all data and confirm the action.
5. After restarting, configure the device as new without restoring settings from a backup (this could return the problem).

If the emojis are iPhone-based again after they're dumped, the problem is the firmware, and then the only thing that helps is:

• 🔄 Update MIUI last-minute.
• 📥 Install custom firmware (e.g. Pixel Experience or LineageOS).
• 🛠️ Contact Xiaomi Service Center (if the device is guaranteed).

💡

Factory reset should be the last option, and 90% of the time, the problem is solved by the first, second or fourth way (root).

FAQ: Frequent questions about emojis on Xiaomi