Try Eyes emoji
Edit the text, then change the size.
Meaning & usage
What does the Eyes emoji mean?
Watching closely, or 'look at this'.
Curious attention, anticipation or suspicion. It often means “I’m watching,” “look at this” or “there is interesting drama here.”
How to use 👀 naturally
Teasing an announcement or reacting to drama.
Reaction symbols work like visual emphasis: they reinforce a word, rate an idea or replace a short response. Repetition normally increases intensity, but it can also make a message feel more performative.
From standard to slang
The history of 👀
- 2010
First defined as emoji
According to Unicode’s Emoji Versions data, Eyes was first defined as emoji in Emoji 0.6, dated 2010. That label is retrospective: Unicode applied it later to the early mobile core it inherited from the Japanese carriers.
- Before the keyboard
Its visual roots
A pair of eyes looking to one side. The sideways glance is the entire meaning: eyes looking straight ahead would say nothing about watching.
- Today
How its use evolved
Teasing an announcement or reacting to drama.
Dates follow Unicode’s official Emoji Versions chart. Versions before Emoji 1.0 are labelled retrospectively. See the history of emoji.
In conversation
Examples of 👀 in messages
These examples show the emoji in complete messages, where the words make its intended tone easier to read.
Did anyone else notice the background? 👀
A big announcement is coming 👀
I’m watching this conversation closely 👀
When to use it
Using 👀 clearly
Teasing an announcement or reacting to drama. It lands as look or watching when the rest of the message supports that reading, and it is the surrounding words that do the deciding — so in a sensitive, professional or cross-cultural conversation, say the thing outright as well.
Common questions
About the eyes emoji
What does 👀 mean in a text message?
Watching closely, or 'look at this'. Curious attention, anticipation or suspicion. It often means “I’m watching,” “look at this” or “there is interesting drama here.”
Is 👀 always positive?
Not always. Its usual readings are look, watching, shifty, and irony or the relationship between the people can flip any of them.
Why does 👀 look different on another device?
U+1F440 identifies the emoji; the picture is a font, drawn separately by Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. Only the artwork changes, never the character.
How do I copy and paste the eyes emoji?
Use the copy button at the top of this page. 👀 is a character, not an image, so it pastes into messages, captions and filenames as ordinary text.
When was the eyes emoji introduced?
Unicode’s Emoji Versions data first records 👀 as emoji in Emoji 0.6, dated 2010. Early emoji version numbers can be retrospective, so this date describes its place in the standardised emoji set rather than the first-ever appearance of the underlying symbol.
Easily confused
👀 compared with similar emoji
These sit close enough in meaning that people reach for the wrong one. Here is what actually separates them.
Eyes or Speech Balloon?
💬 points at conversation. 👀 says you are watching without commenting, which is a reaction in itself.
Eyes or Smirking Face?
😏 implies you know something. 👀 implies you have noticed something, and is far less suggestive.
For developers
👀 in code
Every value below is generated from the character itself, so it stays correct even where a file encoding cannot hold the emoji directly.
| Format | Value | When to use it | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode | U+1F440 | The standard reference. Use it to search a character map or a spec. | |
| HTML (hex) | 👀 | For HTML and XML. Safe in files that are not saved as UTF-8. | |
| HTML (decimal) | 👀 | The same reference in decimal. Both render identically. | |
| CSS | \1F440 | For the content property. Keep the quotes around the whole value. | |
| JavaScript | \u{1F440} | A string-literal escape. Needs the u flag inside a regular expression. | |
| URL-encoded | %F0%9F%91%80 | Percent-encoded UTF-8, for query strings and API requests. |
Reference card
Emoji details
- Unicode
- U+1F440
- Category
- Symbols & Reactions
- Also known as
- lookwatchingshifty
Put it in a message
When 👀 is the right choice
Keep browsing