How to Add Custom Emojis From Your Phone
Half the time you find the perfect emoji you are nowhere near a laptop. Here is what each mobile app can and cannot do.
Miles Crawford
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The Short Version
Discord lets you upload emojis from the mobile app. Slack and Teams make you use a desktop browser for the upload, but there is a simple workaround for both: save the emoji on your phone now, upload it next time you open a laptop. Downloads on Teamsmoji work fine on mobile, so the finding part never has to wait.
Discord: Works on Mobile
- Download the emoji to your phone.
- Open your server, tap the server name, then Settings.
- Tap Emoji, then Upload Emoji.
- Pick the file, give it a name, save.
You need the Manage Emojis permission on that server, same as on desktop. The full limits are in the size limits guide.
Slack: Desktop for the Upload
The Slack mobile app has no emoji upload. The workaround that takes thirty seconds: download the emoji on your phone and save it to a shared place you can reach from a computer (a Drive folder, a message to yourself, anything). When you are next on a laptop, upload it with the normal Slack steps. Some phones let you request the desktop version of the workspace emoji page in the browser, but the form is fiddly on a small screen and not worth the fight.
Microsoft Teams: Desktop for the Upload
Same story as Slack. Custom emoji uploads live in the desktop and web apps, not the mobile app. Save the file on your phone, upload it later with the Teams steps. If the upload option is missing on desktop too, your admin may have turned custom emojis off; the Teams troubleshooting guide covers that.
Save Now, Upload Later
The habit that makes mobile browsing useful: when you find an emoji you like, download it straight to a folder called something like "emojis to add". One folder, one upload session later, and your phone finds stop getting lost in the camera roll.