According to Android Police, Google Meet is finally unleashing the full power of emoji reactions after being stuck with just nine basic options. The platform is rolling out the complete Unicode emoji library, essentially every emoji available, to all Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus users. This massive expansion starts hitting web and Android versions around the second week of December, while iOS support will follow at an unspecified later date. Meet Rooms hardware users won’t get the extended picker but can receive and display the new reactions from others. Live stream viewers get the same limited receiving capability. Basically, after years of emoji austerity, Google Meet users are about to get the entire expressive toolkit.
The emoji arms race heats up
Here’s the thing: Google‘s been playing catch-up in the engagement features department for ages. Zoom has had more robust reaction options forever, and Microsoft Teams isn’t exactly slouching either. When your platform limits people to nine emojis in 2024, you’re basically telling users their emotional range should fit in a tiny box. And in hybrid work environments where nonverbal cues matter more than ever, that’s a real limitation.
So why now? It feels like Google’s finally acknowledging that engagement parity isn’t just about functional features like breakout rooms and polls. It’s about letting people express themselves naturally, the way they do in Slack or messaging apps. The fact that they’re going straight to the full Unicode set instead of gradually adding emojis tells you everything – they know they’re late to this party and need to make a splash.
What this actually changes
Look, will having access to every emoji from the full Unicode library revolutionize meetings? Probably not. But it does remove that subtle friction where you want to react with something specific but can’t find the right emoji. That moment of “well, clapping is close enough” instead of using the perfect reaction? Gone.
The rollout timing around December’s second week, detailed in their Workspace Updates blog, suggests Google wants this in place before holiday meeting season and the new year. Smart move – nothing says “fresh start” like being able to react with a melting face emoji during Q1 planning sessions.
And for businesses evaluating collaboration tools, these small quality-of-life improvements add up. When you’re choosing between platforms that all have basically the same core features, it’s the polish and attention to user experience that sway decisions. Google’s playing the long game here, even if it took them longer than it should have.
