Apple Kills AppStore Emoji Support

Apple issued a store-wide prohibition on all AppStore support for Emoji Friday, according to a report at ArsTechnica.

Emoji, the cute graphical images favored by many heavy SMS text users and a standard part of mobile communications in Japan, are “hidden” on iPhones sold outside Japan. However in recent months, third party apps and other hacks have appeared, allowing all iPhone users to access Emoji through the phone’s International keyboard options.

iPhone developer Gary Fung, whose Typing Genius has been a hit among Emoli lovers, told ArsTechnica Friday that existing applications that offer Emoji enabling beyond their base functionality have been ordered to remove Emoji support.

Fung said that Apple has required an immediate update to his Typing Genius program with the Emoji support removed and the same order appears to have gone out to all developers whose App Store marketing text mentions support for the Emoji feature.

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For a more detailed description of how Emoji are enabled on the iPhone and some speculation about why — beyond the company being just plain mean — Apple came down on all the Emoji-san, see blogger/developer Erica Sadun’s report at ArsTechnica.

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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What could be the reason? i don’t get it.
Duality
Oh dear. Apple, your arbitrary rules and bans will be the end of you (probably).
matt
Duality has it right. Apple’s arrogance is so irritating. Make your policy changes, but could you please explain your actions once in a while?
Lucas
did I read that article correctly. you have to hack your phone to use them. hack as in break the software on your phone, which could break your phone which know has no warranty so no free replacement for you.
so is anyone shocked that apple doesn’t want official apps encouraging folks to hack their phones.
Paul
What’s the point of this and what harm is this doing?
Apple is loosing me and I’ve been a fan & customer since the Apple II.
What jerk at Apple thinks this harmful to the company, the iPhone or the users?
Dozens of Fart applications, but no Emoji for you. Real smart Apple.
Duality
@ Lucas: You don’t have to hack it. It was allowed via legitimate apps on the store. Now they’ve arbitrarily decided that Emoji is not for you! So off it goes. That’s why people are frustrated.
David
Steve only wants the Japanese to have them!
James P
It was not a hack to get emoji on my iPhone. I simply installed an Asian newsreader, that I purchased from the app store, right here in the US. Totally upfront.
They only work in texts to other iPhones, but they are cute and fun.