Valentine's Day Emoji

Valentine's Day texts are an art form. You've got about three seconds to set the right tone before your message gets lost in a sea of "Happy V-Day!" notifications — and the emoji you pick matters more than you think. A red heart says "I love you," sure, but a sparkling heart says "I love you and I put thought into this." There's a difference.

This collection is our hand-picked set of emoji that actually work for romantic messages, dating app bios, and those slightly-too-long Instagram captions about your partner. We skipped the obvious stuff that everyone overuses and focused on emoji that feel intentional. Some are classic, some are underrated, and a few are here because they just hit different in the right context.

Writing a card? Updating your couple's chat wallpaper? Just trying to flirt without being cringe? These are the emoji that do the heavy lifting. Pro tip: don't use more than three in a row. Restraint is romantic.