Get Android N’s latest emoji on any rooted device

Some of Android N's improved emoji. Photo: Google

Some of Android N’s improved emoji. Photo: Google

Android N Preview 2, which was rolled out to testers last week, brings a whole bunch of new and improved emoji characters. Most of us will have to wait months to get them (if we’re lucky enough to own a Nexus), but those with rooted devices don’t have to wait.

Here’s how to get them now.

DespairFactor of the XDA Developers forum has offered up a flashable ZIP image that adds support for Android N’s latest emoji characters to any rooted device. Simply install the package through your custom recovery, and you’re good to go.

Before you do that, however, you should backup your existing emoji located in /system/fonts/NotoColorEmoji.ttf just in case anything goes wrong. This will allow you to revert back to the character set you have now so you don’t lose emoji support altogether.

Another thing to bear in mind is that that this ZIP only adds support for the new emoji character to your device. That means you’ll be able to view them, but they won’t appear in your keyboard yet — at least not until your keyboard’s developer adds them.

To get around this, you can copy and paste the characters from the Emojipedia website.