au by KDDI

au by KDDI is a major Japanese mobile carrier that has left a significant mark on the history of digital communications, not least through its innovative emojis. The company was among the first to recognize the potential of graphical symbols to enrich electronic communication and, on May 1, 1999, introduced its own version of emojis for mobile devices.

Worth saying:, unlike competing companies that immediately opted for colorful images, au by KDDI chose its own path, releasing monochrome emojis. This decision was likely influenced by the technical limitations of the time; however, it gave au by KDDI's emojis a unique and recognizable style. Despite being monochrome, these emojis quickly gained popularity and appreciation among users. Unfortunately, the era of au by KDDI emojis has come to an end. Currently, these original smileys have been replaced by emojis developed by Google. This change may be related to standardization efforts, a desire for compatibility across different platforms, or other factors. Nevertheless, au by KDDI's contribution to the development of emojis is hard to overstate. It was this company that first demonstrated to the world how powerful and expressive a language of graphical symbols can be, laying the groundwork for its further evolution.

au by KDDI: a note on this set

Is this set still in use?
No. au by KDDI belongs to the era before Unicode settled emoji, when each Japanese carrier drew its own. We keep it because those drawings are where much of today's set began.

Can I still type these?
Not as they were. Modern phones map the old codes onto the standard characters, so you get the current artwork instead of the original tiles.

Emojis from au by KDDI Type F are displayed below.

Count: 635