The True Meaning Of Every Color And Type Of Heart Emoji

This enflamed heart emoji pretty literally says, "You set my heart on fire," which can be either romantic or totally platonic. That said, it does have passion and sexiness written all over it. Use this heart to caption a hot selfie on IG, or send it to a friend who's looking amazing.

Good for: Your besties or S.O., or for a ~passionate~ conversation.

Bad for: Your situationship or family.

Siri, play SOS by SZA.

IDK about you, but this one totally says "Healing Girl Era" to me. It also represents protecting your own energy—maybe you've been hurt in the past, and you're feeling a little guarded.

Good for: Sending to close friends and family to show them you're feeling sad or going through some personal growth.

Bad for: Sending to any potential partners, or friends and family you don't talk to on a daily basis.

“This emoji is best to use along with other black and white emojis or any emojis that give off ~angel~ energy (i.e. ☁️🐚🕊🦢),” says Naydeline Mejia, an assistant editor at Women's Health. According to 2021 data compiled by Emojipedia, Twitter users frequently pair this emoji with words including "peace," "remember," and "angels," meaning this is heart emoji is often used to express grief over someone's passing.

Good for: Making your message ~look a certain way~ visually, or remembering someone close to you.

Bad for: Showing intense passion. (Let’s face it: This emoji can be a little bland.)

This was the least used heart emoji on Twitter in 2021, per Emojipedia. That said, it does have its own unique purposes: Emojipedia's data shows that words like "skin" and "Black" are often used in Tweets with this heart. In other words, this one's a means for BIPOC individuals to show love and healing.

Good for: Use by any Black or Brown people.

Bad for: White people trying to show solidarity. (Pro tip: Just use a different color heart!)

If you haven’t heard of this heart, it’s time to learn ASAP. Why? Not only is the bare-bones outlined heart kind of cute, but it also shows some ~personality~. Like, you have to really put in effort in order to access this heart, so it’s very intentional. (Psst, you can copy and paste it here: ♡).

Good for: A quirky IG caption or a mushy paragraph to bae in your notes app.

Bad for: Communicating a specific meaning. This emoji is for the mysterious only.

ICYMI, the red heart is defined as “the love heart,” according to Mejia. “The red heart is reserved for your closest friends, family, and your partners,” she explains. “I wouldn’t send this to an acquaintance or friend you're just getting to know because it might come across a bit intense.”

Fun fact: The red heart emoji was also the most popular heart emoji on Twitter in 2021, per Emojipedia. Twitter users tend to pair this heart with sentiments of affection, gratitude, and appreciation, so it makes sense why you'd only use it with your nearest and dearest.

Good for: Partners, close friends and family.

Bad for: Casual relationships.

This is sort of the lazy man’s red heart, unless you’re going with some kind of orange theme for your social media or texting aesthetic. Maybe you're rooting for a sports team that's associated with the color? That said, to each their own. Use this emoji if you so desire!

Good for: Instagram aesthetics, casual hookups, or dating situations.

Bad for: Any serious expression of love.

Just like yellow roses symbolize platonic love, “this is the unofficial platonic friendship heart,” Mejia explains. “It’s great to send to friends, acquaintances, and mutuals who you want to be friends with IRL.”

Good for: Creating all sorts of warm and fuzzy friendship vibes.

Bad for: Sending to a potential love interest.

While this doesn’t have a specific meaning, exactly, this heart is great for anyone with a green thumb. (Looking at you, plant lovers!) It could also be associated with the environment, helping keep our earth safe, being waste-free, etc. Use it with a bunch of different plant emojis or green items to best convey your point. (Example: 💚🌱🍃🍀🎋🍄🌻🌷)

Good for: Creating a ~go green~ vibe.

Bad for: Communicating with someone who doesn’t understand emoji culture.

Emojipedia lists the blue heart as the unofficial "brand" heart, often used alongside language about shopping, deals, and sales. You could also use this one in a patriotic context: Say you’re trying to caption your Fourth of July IG picture, or maybe you’re tweeting about a recent election. Ultimately, the blue heart emoji is pretty versatile, and appropriate for most situations.

Good for: Brands, neutral topics, and political decrees or patriotic celebration.

Bad for: This emoji is pretty inoffensive. No need to worry about misusing.

In today’s culture, the purple heart emoji often conveys horniness. This mutual understanding of all things purple heart is all thanks to Ty Dolla $ign, who has a song (called “Purple Emoji”) about insinuating sex by sending someone the purple heart emoji.

On the other hand, it's also the emoji that's associated with the K-pop band BTS since V coined the phrase "I purple you" in 2016. In V's words, the color purple symbolizes love and trust, and members of the BTS ARMY have claimed this emoji ever since.

Good for: Telling your bae that you want to smash, ASAP... or showing your support for V, Jimin, and the rest of BTS. Hey, the purple heart contains multitudes!

Bad for: This one's also pretty versatile, but maybe not ideal for a heavy, emotional text to your mom.

“Another heart that is purely aesthetic—it pairs well with 💀👻🦷🕷⛓,” Mejia explains. If you’re an avid TikTok user, odds are you’ve seen this heart used at least once in your life, since it's popular among the e-girl/guy crowd.

Good for: Captioning your e-girl TikTok or showing your bestie you’re sad.

Bad for: Anyone who doesn’t understand why your soul is so dark.

This heart is pretty quirky, but that’s probably why you like it. You can use this one with your friends who get your odd humor, but definitely refrain from usage if you’re trying to genuinely convey desire or love with someone new. (They might be confused!)

Good for: Using in your bio if you’re a medical student, being weirdos with your siblings or friends...

Bad for: Communicating genuine love or lust, or when talking to someone who won’t get your anatomy humor.

This emoji is meant to be silly and fun. It’s unique, some might say. You can use this emoji in just about any situation, especially if you’re trying to convey excitement. Send it to your friends, family, or partner when you have good news, or if you just want to tell them that you’re excited to see them.

Good for: Telling someone a piece of exciting news, giving someone a compliment, or just about anything else that’s lighthearted and positive.

Bad for: When you’re having a rather serious convo.

The two static pink hearts emoji is what Mejia calls the “token of appreciation” heart. “It’s appropriate for any and all circumstances, really,” she says. “It’s a great one to send your crush to let them know you think they’re a cutie. Commenting three of these under a friend’s selfie is also a less aggressive way to show love compared to '🔥🔥🔥.'" It's pretty ubiquitous, too: It's the second most popular heart emoji used on Twitter, per Emojipedia's data.

Good for: Being flirty, cute, or complimentary.

Bad for: Trying to express deep love or meaning via text.

If you’re having a heart-to-heart with someone, this is definitely the appropriate heart to use. The double, circling heart signifies that you two are on the same page and that you’re being open or communicative.

Good for: Sending during deep conversations, apologies, granting forgiveness, exchanging ideas, or any other sort of mind meld.

Bad for: A super surface-level conversation.

This one should be pretty obvious. A broken heart emoji conveys sadness or disappointment, and it works in just about any heartbreaking situation: You could be upset because of a failed romance or because of a tragic event. Regardless, the broken heart emoji is pretty widely accepted as a way of saying I’m crushed. (Both in serious and sarcastic situations.)

Good for: Demonstrating heartbreak or sadness. It can also be used ironically.

Bad for: Sending to your grandma as a joke. She will probably take it seriously.

The vibrating pink heart is for, well, vibing. Maybe you and a crush just had an amazing date. (Or amazing sex.) This emoji tells whoever you’re sending it to that you’re operating on the same wavelength, and you can literally feel your heart beating.

Good for: Sending and receiving all kinds of good vibes.

Bad for: It might be less than ideal for anything non-sexual or non-romantic. Just send a different emoji so there’s no confusion.

Its interpretation is up to you. Some ideas: Maybe you want to show that your love for someone is growing, that your heart is beating, that you love multiple people at once, et cetera.

Good for: Making someone scratch their head.

Bad for: Trying to be straightforward.

This heart gives off all the fairy godmother vibes. It’s universally accepted as cute, upbeat, and good-in-a-neutral-way, which means that you’re good to send it in just about any and every situation.

Good for: Any kind of chill, fun conversation.

Bad for: It’s hard to mess this one up!