Instagram Is Obsessed With The White Heart Emoji

It seems like the white heart emoji is popping up everywhere, so I decided to poll my followers. Although only one person responded on Twitter, it’s clear they’re not a fan. Meanwhile on Instagram, 88% said they like it, which was based on a larger sample of 17 people. This poll also had more engagement on Instagram than all of my previous polls, so my followers were eager to say how much they love it.

The white heart emoji was added to iOS 13.2 at the end of October 2019. New emojis are released every year, but it’s usually harder to tell which ones become immediately popular.

I believe people are using the white heart emoji because the Kardashians endorsed it as the best way to communicate right now. How else would you explain posting a white emoji on a white background across multiple apps? Many other influencers have contributed to the popularity of this emoji, such as Arielle Charnas when she posted an outfit of the day. Likewise, Dale Borchiver from Sweats & The City created bullet points in an Instagram caption with white heart emojis.

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Some days we want to sweat it out in a spin class, others we just want to rest, and then there are those in between-y days … the ones you don’t want to commit to a full class or go hard at the gym, but you still want to just MOVE YOUR BODY. Don’t fight the variety in your workout cravings! You don’t have to force a 1 hour class or spend money to “make it count” and feel good. All movement counts. Here are some of our favorite alternative movement ideas: — 🤍 WALK OUTSIDE! Whether you’re heading to a specific destination or making an activity out of it (like walking with a friend), getting fresh air is always a great way to move. 🤍 TREADMILL WALKS! While I love to explore the city by foot, this time of year I want to minimize my time spent freezing as much as possible. So when I have those in between-y days, I love to walk (we’re talking max 3 mph) on the treadmill, while doing something productive – reading, responding to DMs, catching up on calls, writing captions, etc. The perk here is that you don’t have to watch where you’re going, so you can really get a lot done (and time will fly by!). 🤍 QUICK STREAM! So many online streaming services offer very express workouts – & sometimes just 10 minutes seriously does the trick. Just because you didn’t physically go to a class doesn’t mean your workout doesn’t count. Sometimes this is all you need. 🤍 QUICK CIRCUIT! Have a quick mental series that you can rely on: 20 crunches, 20 bicycles, 20 lunges, 20 squats, 30 second mountain climbers. It could literally be 5 minutes and make all the difference in your day. Sometimes we just need to get the heart rate up! 🤍 TAKE THE STAIRS! Maybe your movement is intentionally taking the stairs to your office or apartment – and that’s cool, too! 🤍 DO AN ACTIVITY! Hiking, biking, rock climbing – all super active, yet mentally easier on these kind of days. 🤍 TIKTOK: THIS IS NOT A JOKE! I’m pretty much out of breath trying to learn these dances. If you’ve ever attempted Renegade … you know what I mean. — So whatever mood you’re in, there are so many options for you! And don’t feel guilty about taking full days off either. It’s all about what makes YOU feel your best. xx #ssssweats

A post shared by SWEATS & THE CITY (@sweatsandthecity) on Feb 21, 2020 at 9:49am PST

While it’s hard to achieve the same lifestyle as the celebrities and influencers we admire, using the same emojis is doable, affordable and easy. Once they established it as the way to express yourself, it trickled down to their followers and my friends. For example, a recent bride I know posted the white heart emoji on her wedding anniversary, which is the most logical use case.

It’s odd that an emoji that’s kind of hard to see became so trendy, but I understand why people like the white heart. It’s light, airy and sweet. It has all the qualities of a standard red heart, but it’s new and seems special in a way that’s less generic. Perhaps the red heart lost its sense of appeal and became so overused that people gravitated towards a new colour.

This makes me wonder how the colour of heart emojis you pick can convey your personality. Personally, I’ve leaned towards a mix of the black and red hearts based on my blog’s colour scheme and this is clear from Instagram’s suggested emojis on my account. The black heart feels edgier and more sophisticated than the red heart, so I’ll admit I gave it some thought before making it one of my go-to emojis. If the white heart was darker and closer to grey, I would be inclined to post it more often, as grey fits my branding and is one of my favourite colours for everything.

Consumers’ increasing adoption of dark mode could also explain the popularity of the white heart emoji. Mashable called 2019 “the year of Dark Mode” and if that trend continues, a white heart emoji would actually look really good on a black background!

Now that we’re dealing with COVID-19 and relying on friendly virtual communication to offer support and stay in touch, I expect this emoji to stay popular. As for upcoming emojis, I’ve got my eye on the flip-flop (even though I’m not supposed to wear them) and red pickup truck.

What do you think of the white heart emoji? How long do you think it will remain hot?