Overview
Submit a raw emoji character, descriptive tag, or one of ten supported categories such as food or animals. The service queries matching records and returns matching characters with their official descriptions and category groupings. Paid plans add Unicode standard versions, iOS release compatibility, code points, aliases, and associated tags.
Endpoint
One host, one path per API. The block below shows this call in four languages; every one of them is the same HTTP request. Making requests covers the timeouts, retries and parameter rules that apply to all of them. The SDKs wrap the same call in a typed client.
curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/emoji?emoji=%F0%9F%A5%B3" \
-H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"const res = await fetch('https://api.apiverve.com/v1/emoji?emoji=%F0%9F%A5%B3', {
headers: { 'x-api-key': 'your_api_key_here' },
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data);import requests
res = requests.get(
"https://api.apiverve.com/v1/emoji?emoji=%F0%9F%A5%B3",
headers={"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"},
timeout=15,
)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json()["data"])package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
)
func main() {
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/emoji?emoji=%F0%9F%A5%B3", nil)
req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "your_api_key_here")
res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer res.Body.Close()
out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
fmt.Println(string(out))
}Replace your_api_key_here with the key from your dashboard. When the inputs arrive as a list rather than one at a time, batch requests run up to 200 of them through this same API in a single call.
Authentication
Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — there is no token exchange and no per-endpoint scope to configure. Authentication covers creating, rotating and revoking keys.
A 401 means the key is missing, invalid or expired. A 403 means the key is valid but not permitted here — blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Running out of credits is a 429.
Parameters
Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
emojiRequired | string | The emoji for which you want to get the text representation (e.g., 🥳) |
Response
Every API returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape. Response format covers the envelope, the other output formats and how premium fields are withheld.
{
"status": "ok",
"error": null,
"data": {
"count": 1,
"emojisFound": [
{
"emoji": "🥳",
"description": "partying face",
"category": "Smileys & Emotion",
"aliases": [
"partying_face"
],
"tags": [
"celebration",
"birthday"
],
"unicode_version": "11.0",
"ios_version": "12.1",
"codePoint": "1f973"
}
]
}
}
Response fields
Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.
| Field | Type | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
count | number | 1 | Number of emoji results found in response |
emojisFound | array[1] | Array of emoji objects with detailed information | |
emoji | string | "🥳" | The emoji character symbol |
description | string | "partying face" | Human-readable description of the emoji |
category | string | "Smileys & Emotion" | Emoji category classification for organization |
aliasesPremium | array | [partying_face] | Alternative names for the emoji |
tagsPremium | array | [celebration, ...] | Tags describing emoji meaning and usage |
unicode_versionPremium | string | "11.0" | Unicode standard version where emoji was introduced |
ios_versionPremium | string | "12.1" | iOS version when emoji was first supported |
codePointPremium | string | "1f973" | Hexadecimal Unicode code point value. Emoji made of several code points - flags, ZWJ sequences, skin-tone variants - list all of them separated by spaces, e.g. "1f1fa 1f1f8" for the US flag |
Errors
Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change. Error handling covers the full status list and which of them are worth retrying.
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
400 | Input was rejected | Read error; it names the parameter. |
401 | Key missing or invalid | Check the header name and the key value. |
403 | Key valid, but not permitted | A key restriction or IP allow-list; see key scoping. |
429 | Rate limited, or out of credits | Read error to tell them apart; see rate limits. |
Use cases
- Screen Reader Alt Text
- To generate accessible image labels, content systems map raw emoji to their official descriptions so screen readers pronounce every character accurately.
- Emoji Autocomplete Menus
- Chat applications search emoji tags and categories to populate keyboard suggestions and picker dropdowns while users type messages.
- Social Feedback Triage
- When evaluating incoming comments, sentiment pipelines convert raw emoji symbols into text descriptions before running rule-based classifiers.
- Topic Icon Categorization
- Before displaying user-submitted topic icons, community forums look up category classifications to sort discussion badges into matching sections.
Other ways to use Emoji Lookup
Set up Emoji Lookup on APIVerve, or reach the same source a different way. Your APIVerve account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.
Related
More in Data Lookup: