The orange heart emoji 🧡 means warmth, care and support, a friendly kind of love rather than a romantic one. Dictionary.com says it's also used for things linked to orange, from autumn to sports teams. It arrived in 2017, and Emojipedia's research found its proposal focused on orange being the one rainbow colour still missing a heart.
If someone sends you 🧡 instead of ❤️, they're usually being warm without making a big statement. It's the heart people reach for when red feels too intense. Here's what it means, why it turned up so late, and how it's used in practice.
The last colour of the rainbow
Emojipedia says Orange Heart was approved as part of Unicode 10.0 in 2017 and added to Emoji 5.0 the same year. Its Emoji 5.0 page notes that list was finalised in March 2017 and released on May 18, 2017. The Unicode emoji test file lists it as code point 1F9E1.
The reason for its late arrival is a nice bit of trivia. Emojipedia's analysis of heart emojis says the proposal for 🧡 focused on orange being missing from the 🌈 rainbow. At the time, every other colour of the rainbow already had its own heart. It came nearly a decade after most hearts first appeared on iOS and Android.
What 🧡 usually means
Dictionary.com describes the orange heart as a classic heart shape coloured orange, commonly used to show love, support, close bonds and admiration for things connected to the colour. In everyday texting, that tends to break down like this:
| Situation | What 🧡 is saying | Why orange, not red |
|---|---|---|
| Between friends | I care about you | Warm without sounding romantic |
| After good news | So happy for you | Cheerful and bright |
| Sports and fandom | Love for an orange-themed team | Dictionary.com cites the Clemson Tigers |
| Autumn posts | Cosy seasonal feeling | Dictionary.com links it to fall |
| In a row of hearts | Completing the rainbow | The most common use of all |
The rainbow row is its main job
Here's the part people miss. Emojipedia looked at which emojis appear alongside each heart on Twitter, and found the main reason people use the orange heart is simply to place it next to the blue, yellow, purple, green and red hearts. In other words, 🧡 is most often one part of a rainbow string, not a message on its own.
Emojipedia also found that autumn emojis like 🍂 Fallen Leaf, 🎃 Jack-O-Lantern and 🍊 Tangerine were missing from its top companions. That suggests the seasonal use is real but occasional, while the hearts-with-hearts use is all year round. If you want to see how its neighbours behave, my guides to the green heart and the pink heart cover their own quirks.
The Adolescence meaning
Emojipedia notes the orange heart is mentioned in the 2025 Netflix series Adolescence. In the show, a teenage character lists coded meanings he says his peers use for different coloured hearts. For 🧡, the line given is 'You're gonna be fine'.
Emojipedia treats these codes with caution. They describe one fictional character's account, not a meaning most people share. If a teenager sends you an orange heart, it's far more likely to be friendly warmth than a secret signal. Context and the person sending it will tell you more than any list.
Orange heart vs red heart
The red heart is the classic symbol of love and the default reaction on many apps. Orange sits one step back. It's affectionate, but softer, which is why people use it with friends, colleagues and new connections when red might feel like too much. Think of red as 'I love you' and orange as 'I've got your back'.
These are made-up messages, not real chats, to show how 🧡 reads:
- 'Thinking of you today 🧡' Gentle support.
- 'Game day! 🧡🧡' Backing an orange-kit team.
- '❤️🧡💛💚💙💜' The full rainbow row.
- 'First leaves are falling 🍂🧡' A cosy autumn post.
Pairing the orange heart with other emojis
Emojipedia's research shows the orange heart is most often surrounded by other hearts, but you'll also see it with sparkles, pleading faces and smiling faces, the same companions most hearts attract. On its own, 🧡 reads as a warm sign-off. Doubled up, 🧡🧡 adds enthusiasm.
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Combinations can shift the meaning. 🧡💛 together often suggests sunshine, autumn or a warm, cheerful mood. 🧡🖤 can point to Halloween or to a sports team in those colours. And a row that includes 🧡 alongside every other colour is a way of sending love to everyone, which is why it shows up in support and community posts.
If you're replying to someone who sent 🧡, mirroring it back is the simplest move. It matches their tone exactly, without dialling the feeling up or down. Our guide to the most popular emojis shows where hearts sit among the rest.
One more detail people find surprising: because the orange heart arrived years after the others, older phones and apps sometimes showed a blank box instead. Emojipedia notes it was added in Emoji 5.0, so devices that never updated past earlier emoji sets couldn't display it. That's rarely a problem now, but it's why a few older messages and screenshots show a missing symbol where 🧡 should be.
Using the orange heart on a business account
Because it's warm but not romantic, 🧡 is one of the safest hearts for brands. It works well for thanking customers, celebrating a milestone or replying to a kind comment. If your brand colours include orange, it doubles as a subtle bit of branding. Just don't overuse it: a heart on every reply starts to feel automatic, and the warmth fades.
Frequently asked questions
What does 🧡🖤 mean?
Usually Halloween or a sports team in orange and black, depending on the post.
What does the orange heart emoji mean?
It means warmth, care and support, a friendly kind of love rather than a romantic one.
When was the orange heart emoji added?
Emojipedia says it was approved in Unicode 10.0 in 2017 and added to Emoji 5.0 that year.
Why was the orange heart created?
Emojipedia says its proposal focused on orange being the one rainbow colour without a heart.
What does the orange heart mean in Adolescence?
In the show a character says it means 'You're gonna be fine', though Emojipedia treats the codes with caution.
Is the orange heart romantic?
Usually not. It's softer than the red heart and often used between friends.
