From friendly smiley faces to cheeky peaches, emojis now form a staple part of many of our daily messages.
But it turns out your seemingly innocent choices could be infuriating your friends.
A survey of 2,000 Brits has revealed the characters that people find the most annoying.
While it's one of the most popular emojis around the world, the thumbs up was deemed the most annoying, with many respondents claiming it's seen as blunt.
The aubergine is next, ahead of the woman dancing, the poo, the face with cowboy hat, and check mark.
'Emojis like the eyes, thinking face or even the drooling face can mean very different things depending on who's reading them,' said Harriet Scott of Perspectus Global.
'What's playful to one person can feel confusing or irritating to another.
'There's a real generational gap - and it's changing how we communicate every day.'
While it's one of the most popular emojis around the world, the thumbs up was deemed the most annoying, with many respondents claiming it's seen as blunt.
For the survey, Perspectus Global quizzed 2,000 Brits about the emojis that get under their skin the most.
The results revealed that more than a fifth (22 per cent) dislike the thumbs up.
This will come as no surprise to many Gen Z, who regularly take to social media to express their hatred for this emoji.
On TikTok, @withethanlap said: 'The single thumbs up reply text is the most passive aggressive text you can send a millennial.'
@magnolia_thunder added: 'If you give me a thumbs up on any app - doesn't matter if it's Facebook, Slack, text message - when I see that, I immediately think [middle finger gesture].'
On TikTok, @etymologynerd explained why this emoji gets under our skin so much.
'When you use the thumbs up at the end of your messages, it seems dismissive because it shuts down the natural flow of texting, effectively signaling that this conversation is over to me,' he said.
'This is kind of why the period also feels passive aggressive.'
A survey of 2,000 Brits has revealed the emojis that people find the most annoying - including the aubergine and the poo.
- Thumbs Up: 22%
- Eggplant: 21%
- Woman Dancing: 20%
- Poo: 18%
- Face with Cowboy Hat: 14%
- Check Mark: 13%
- Face with Party Hat and Blower: 13%
- Person Shrugging: 13%
- Zany Face: 12%
- Clown Face: 12%
- OK Hand: 12%
- Grimacing Face: 9%
- Flexed Biceps: 9%
- Loudly Crying Face: 8%
- Face Screaming in Fear: 8%
- Party Popper: 6%
- Smiling Face with Heart Eyes: 5%
- Eyes: 4%
- Thinking Face: 3.5%
- Drooling Face: 3%
'It has a sense of finality that's almost like it's closing a door on you, but the thumbs up does that even more overtly.'
Coming just behind the thumbs up, the aubergine (eggplant) was the second-most annoying emoji.
Often used to symbolise a penis, this emoji was found to annoy 21 per cent of Brits.
Other characters on the list include the poo (annoying to 18 per cent of Brits), the clown face (12 per cent), the flexed bixep (nine per cent), and the loudly crying face (eight per cent).
Meanwhile, three per cent even deemed the drooling face emoji irritating.
Perspectus Global's findings suggest that age plays a key role in how annoying you find emojis.
A hefty 81 per cent of over-50s say emojis annoy them, with 72 per cent of those in their 50s and 60s admitting they don't even understand what many mean.
In contrast, Gen Z and Millennials are big fans - with 93 per cent of 18-30-year-olds using them daily.
The news come shortly after Apple released its fourth developer beta for iOS 26.4, which includes access to 163 new emojis.
While 150 are skin tone sequences for existing characters, 13 of these are completely new concepts.
A 'hairy creature' emoji shows a Bigfoot-like character, while a 'fight cloud' features a cloud exploding with stars.
Other new options include an orca, a landslide, and a trombone.
However, the new emoji that users are most excited about is the 'distorted face', which features rosy cheeks and bulging eyes.