The "this ^" emoji — agreement, link-in-bio pointers, and going up.
⬆️ is a pointer first and a symbol second. In a group chat it turns a previous message into the thing you're endorsing, the digital version of "what she said." Outside of chat it does literal work: upward direction, increases, upgrades, and "tap the thing above."
✍️ Written & reviewed against real usage · verified Unicode 16.0Tap to copy · pastes in WhatsApp, Instagram, anywhere
These are the real emoji characters — tap one to copy it, then paste anywhere. Because they’re text, they show up as emoji wherever you send them.
Three meanings do almost all the work. First, referential: someone posts a take, you reply ⬆️, and you've agreed without typing a word — this is the dominant use in Discord, group iMessages, and Reddit-style threads, and it replaced the older "^" or "this." Second, navigational: creators put ⬆️ or ⬆️🔗 in captions and Stories to aim you at a link, a pinned comment, or a swipe-up, even though Instagram killed literal swipe-ups years ago. Third, quantitative: ⬆️ next to a number means it went up — revenue, weight lifted, streaks, follower count, a stock. A softer fourth use is emotional: "mood ⬆️" or "energy ⬆️" as shorthand for feeling better. It carries no flirt charge and almost no irony, which makes it one of the few emoji that reads the same to a 16-year-old and a 45-year-old.
The cheapest way to agree. Reply ⬆️ under a friend's message and everyone knows you're backing it. Send it too late in the thread and it points at the wrong message.
Used in comments to boost the comment above yours, and in captions as ⬆️ pointing at the sound name or a pinned comment. Also stacked as ⬆️⬆️ to push a comment up the ranking.
Story stickers and captions use ⬆️ to aim at a link sticker or bio. A leftover from the swipe-up era, so older audiences still read it as 'swipe', younger ones as 'tap'.
Rare and non-flirty. Shows up in bios as ⬆️ pointing at a photo or a prompt answer — 'that's me ⬆️'. It won't be read as interest, so don't use it as an opener.
Fully safe in Slack and Teams. ⬆️ on a thread means 'agreed' or 'bumping this'. Managers use it in updates for metrics that improved. Zero cringe risk here.
⬆️ has no romantic or flirty subtext, so if a girl sends it she is almost certainly pointing at something — her previous message, a friend's message she agrees with, a link, or a story she wants you to open. Reading it as a signal of interest is a misread. What it does tell you is that she's engaged enough to co-sign rather than scroll past, and that she's a functional texter rather than a reaction-emoji one. If it arrives alone with no message above it, she probably meant it as "same" or accidentally sent it — ask before assuming a hidden meaning, because there isn't one.
Up Arrow ⬆️ and Backhand Index Pointing Up 👆 look closely related and get swapped constantly, but they land differently in a message. Here is what separates them, so you send the one you actually mean.
Abstract and directional. Points at the message above, a link, or an upward trend. Neutral, works in work chat, no personality attached to it.
A hand, so it feels human and emphatic — 'listen to this person.' Slightly more insistent and more common on social posts than in one-to-one texts.
It’s the same character everywhere — each platform just draws it in its own style. Here are three open emoji sets side by side, plus how your own device renders it:
| Platform | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Apple | Solid black arrow on a rounded white square with a subtle grey border — the most neutral, most-seen version. |
| Thicker black arrow, squarer tail, on white. Reads slightly more like a UI button than Apple's. | |
| Samsung | Black arrow on white with tighter proportions; on older One UI builds the square edge is more pronounced. |
| Microsoft | Flat black arrow on white, no border — can nearly disappear against a white Teams or Outlook background. |
| Bold black arrow on white, visually heavier, so ⬆️⬆️⬆️ looks more emphatic than it does on iOS. | |
| Twemoji renders a clean black arrow on white; in dark mode the white tile stands out as a bright block. |
Apple, Samsung and WhatsApp draw their own proprietary versions, which we don’t redistribute — the notes above describe how they differ. Open sets shown under their licences: Twemoji (CC-BY 4.0), Noto Emoji (Apache 2.0), OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The up arrow emoji ⬆️ is not always read the way you intend it. These three situations change what ⬆️ signals, and knowing them keeps you from sending the wrong message.
Quick answers to what people ask most about the up arrow emoji ⬆️ — what it means in a text, who tends to send it, and how to copy it onto your own keyboard.
In texting, ⬆️ means 'see the message above.' It's used to agree with, co-sign, or draw attention to whatever was just sent — the emoji version of typing '^' or 'this.' It can also mean something is increasing, like a score or mood.
Nothing flirty. From a girl, ⬆️ almost always points at a previous message, a link, or a story she wants you to see. It signals agreement or direction, not romantic interest, so treating it as a hint is a misread of a purely functional emoji.
No. ⬆️ is the plain Up Arrow used for direction and 'see above.' 🔼 is the Upwards Button, a media and interface control that looks like a triangle in a square. Use ⬆️ in conversation and 🔼 only for player-style controls.
Three stacked up arrows are emphasis. It means strong agreement with the message above — 'hard agree', 'exactly this' — or, in comment sections, an attempt to push a comment higher in the ranking so more people see it.
Tap or click the ⬆️ character to copy it, then paste anywhere. On iPhone and Android it's in the Symbols tab of the emoji keyboard under arrows. On Windows press Win + period, on Mac press Control + Command + Space.
Because the character was sent without the variation selector. ⬆ alone (U+2B06) renders as monochrome text, while ⬆️ (U+2B06 U+FE0F) forces the colour emoji version. Some older apps and terminals strip the selector automatically.
Yes. ⬆️ is one of the least risky emoji in professional chat. It reads as 'agreed', 'bumping this', or 'metric improved' in Slack, Teams and email, carries no slang or sexual subtext, and reads identically across generations.
If ⬆️ came up in a conversation, these are the emoji people most often look up next — each one explained the same way, with meanings you can actually use and characters you can copy.