Every shipped version.

More in Free and safer cross-app insertion

• Pins, custom search aliases, and custom shortcodes and snippets are now available in the free version.
• All content tabs can now be browsed and searched in Free. Emoticons and Mixtures show clear lock indicators, with Pro unlocking copy, insertion, and pack customization.
• The menu bar now shows your configured Quick Find and Library keyboard shortcuts.
• Improved cross-app safety so switching apps, clicking elsewhere, or opening another Emoji Picker window cannot leave a stale picker session that edits the wrong text field.
• The open picker and Library now refresh immediately when recents, pins, aliases, sorting, or content settings change.
• Improved reliability for Launch at Login approval, update-check availability, and global keyboard monitoring.

Mixtures and smarter search

• Added Mixtures for Pro: 73 curated decorative Unicode and emoji combinations for celebrations, affection, thanks, relaxation, travel, and more.
• Mixtures are available in Quick Find and the Library, including Tab navigation and Quick Open.
• Mixtures can be reordered or hidden in Settings to keep favorite combinations prominent.
• Search now uses Unicode CLDR annotations, improving results for alternative terms such as “steak,” “king,” “queen,” “galaxy,” and “universe.”
• Search ranking now handles emoji and built-in text packs more naturally while preserving strong exact matches.
• Settings now uses clearer sidebar navigation.
• Expanded the emoticon catalog and added typographic quotes, curly apostrophes, and guillemets to Glyphs.
• Double-clicking an emoji variant in the Library now inserts it immediately and remembers the selection.

Variant memory and smoother Quick Find

• Emoji Picker now remembers the skin-tone or mixed-tone variant you choose and uses it again in Quick Find and the Library.
• Opening the Library from an inline popup now keeps shortcut cleanup intact, so Library insertion replaces the text you typed.
• Inline editing with Backspace, Option-Backspace, and Command-Backspace is more reliable before inserting an emoji.
• Quick Find now resets horizontal scrolling when it opens again, so rows start from the expected selection.
• Hover selection no longer jumps just because the picker opened under the pointer; it waits until the mouse actually moves.

Emoji Library, smarter pins, and new emoji

• Added a new floating Emoji Library for browsing emoji, pins, shortcodes, emoticons, and glyphs in a larger window. You can search, copy, or insert into the app you were just using, with an optional global Library shortcut.
• Upgraded Pins for Pro users with a dedicated settings tab, manual ordering, per-pin search aliases, and an option to let pinned results lead global search in your chosen order.
• Improved skin tone selection for two-person emoji with a mixed-tone picker, cleaner keyboard navigation, and more stable variant controls in quick find.
• Expanded the catalog with the latest macOS 26.5 emoji, 80+ additional glyphs including ZWSP and NBSP, plus new celebratory text emoticons.
• Polished quick find with a draggable panel, a visible close button, and fixes for insertion focus, flicker, and rapid multi-insert edge cases.

Custom triggers and calmer inline search

• Added a configurable inline trigger character with ; as the default, so you can still switch the search prompt when another key fits your workflow better.
• Refined inline search behavior with smarter sequence blocking, broader default excluded apps, and reset controls for open modes when you want to get back to a known-good setup.
• Polished the Pro experience with a simpler onboarding flow, cleaner settings copy, and clearer shortcode tips for built-in text emoticons.

Faster query editing and sharper results

• Added Option+Delete and Command+Delete shortcuts in search so you can remove the previous word or clear the whole query instantly.
• Improved keyword ranking so typo-prone and multi-word searches surface the intended emoji faster.
• The quit menu now shows the installed app version, so the menu bar context menu makes it obvious which release is running.

Multi-word search and first-run guide

• Search now supports multiple space-separated keywords, so queries like ;love hand can find 🫶🏼 without needing the exact shortcode.
• Added a new first-run Tipps guide with search hints, keyboard shortcuts, and a cleaner onboarding flow for permissions.
• Launching a second copy of the app now shows a modal and automatically closes the already running instance before continuing.

Glyphs tab and smarter search

• Added a new Glyphs tab with practical symbols (arrows, bullets, math signs, currency signs, and box-drawing characters).
• Expanded keyword matching with token normalization, deinflection, and synonym groups for better search coverage.
• Improved free/pro tab behavior and refined locked-feature badge positioning in the picker UI.

Emoticon arsenal expansion

• Added a broad set of classic text emoticons and kaomoji, including favorites like @@@@:-), d[-_-]b, ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ, and (ᵔᴥᵔ).
• Curated default emoticon lineup with updated ordering and new entries integrated into the list.
• Removed several less-desired legacy emoticons from the built-in catalog.

Search sorting priority + emoji-first default

• Emoji results now generally appear before text emoticons when relevance ties.
• Added a new Search sort priority option in Settings to switch between Emoji first and Emoticons first.
• Existing search relevance rules remain unchanged; the new priority only resolves tie ordering between emoji and emoticons.

Universal build hotfix

• Release packaging now ships a universal macOS app binary (arm64 + x86_64) to restore compatibility on Intel Macs.
• Kept Developer ID signing, notarization, and stapling flow intact for Gatekeeper compatibility.
• Improved release checklist with an explicit architecture verification step using lipo -info.

Pro teaser + settings access + updater controls

• Pro tab is now visible in free mode with a locked teaser experience, so Pro capabilities are discoverable without activating.
• Moved the Liberation Complete celebration card to the bottom of the Pro tab.
• Improved picker accessibility in crowded menu bars by exposing settings via a dedicated gear icon (including free mode).
• Info actions were reorganized: support links refined, permission wizard remains directly accessible, and Pro messaging moved out of Info into Pro.
• Expanded the Auto-Updater panel with richer status details and toggles for automatic update checks and automatic update installation/download behavior (when available).
• Fixed Sparkle status sync issues where Checking... could persist after no-update results and Available could stay unknown.

Sparkle updates + Pro/search upgrades

• Integrated Sparkle auto-updater for signed in-app update delivery.
• New Pro settings tab with dedicated rows for Pins & Collections, Shortcodes & Snippets, and Emoji Pack tools.
• Refreshed Pro rows with stronger visuals and a wider settings dialog for better readability.
• Category search now supports aliases and prefixes (for example ;people, ;sym, ;emotic).
• Search ordering is now: direct matches first, then category matches, then tab-name matches.
• Shortcodes are now discoverable via category/tab queries like ;short, ;shortcodes, ;snip, and ;snippet.

Polish + Pro unlock improvements

• Pro activation now refreshes Pro-only content immediately.
• Improved Pro/free UX: pro-locked tabs and Quick Open menu polish.
• Better text entry cells + TAB legend in the picker.
• Redesigned free unlock card in Stats.
• Small emoticon tweak: tighter unflip face.

Happy Release!

Thanks for trying Emoji Picker for macOS.

• Type ; to open a fast menu bar emoji picker.
• Keyboard navigation + instant search.
• Skin tone variants + default skin tone setting.
• Excluded apps list.
• Usage stats preview (full stats in Pro).
• Pro: pins & collections, custom shortcodes & snippets, and text emoticons.