How to React to Messages in Facebook Messenger with Different Emojis

Personalized emoji reactions will help make your conversations more fun and engaging. Whether it’s reacting with fire emoji or sending a poop emoji, new possibilities have opened up. Custom reactions were part of the Messenger update which also introduced features like chat themes, disappear mode, selfie stickers, and more.

In this article, we have explained how to react with custom emojis, how to add new emojis in the panel, reset custom emojis, and Messenger emojis reactions not working. We also explained how to replace the default emoji in Messenger.

Let’s start with our tutorial.

How to react to Facebook messages with any emoji on Android, iPhone and iPad

Launch the Facebook Messenger app and open the chat. Long press on the message you want to react to. The emoji panel will open, consisting of six emojis by default. Tap the Add icon (+) to react with any custom emoji. The emoji screen will open. Select the emoji to react with. Use the search to find the emoji you want. You can also add the new emojis to the panel as shown below.

Point: To delete an emoji reaction, tap the reaction below the message. Then tap on your emoji to delete it.

How to customize Emoji reactions in the Emoji panel

The above method can be a bit cumbersome if you regularly react with the same emoji. For example, let’s say you regularly use the fire emoji as a message reaction. Instead of looking for the fire emoji every time, you can replace an existing emoji in the panel with the one you want.

Note: If you are part of a group chat in Messenger, everyone in the chat can see reactions to all messages.

To add new reactions to the emoji panel, long press any message in Facebook Messenger. When the panel opens, tap the Add icon (+). Tap Personalize at the top.

Tap the emoji you want to replace in the top panel. Then tap on the emoji you want to replace it with in the bottom panel. Likewise, you can edit other emoji reactions. Tap the check mark icon at the top (Android) or the Done button (iPhone / iPad) to save the changes.

Note: You can only add 6 emojis in the panel, and the new message reactions will appear in all threads.

Once done, the new emoji will appear in the emoji panel. You can replace the emojis in the panel as many times as you want.

How to change the double-tap reaction on Facebook Messenger

Similar to Instagram, you can react to a message on Facebook Messenger by double-tapping it. By default, a heart reaction will be sent when you double tap. But you can customize this behavior.

To change the double-tap response, touch and hold any message. Tap the Add icon (+) in the emoji panel. Tap Personalize on the next screen.

Tap the heart emoji to select it. Then choose the emoji you want from the bottom panel that you want to use for a double tap. Tap the check mark icon or the Done button at the top. Now every time you double tap the new reaction will be used.

Pro tip: You can also react to Facebook comments with emojis. Check out similar tips for Facebook comments.

How to Reset Custom Emoji Reactions in Messenger

If you want to reset all emoji reactions in the panel to the default set of emojis, you can do that as well. Long press any message to open the emoji reaction bar. Tap the Add icon (+). Then tap Personalize.

Tap the reset icon (Android) or reset text (iPhone / iPad) to revert to the original set of emojis. Tap Done or the check mark icon to save changes.

Bonus: How to Replace Quick Emoji in Messenger Chat

Besides message reactions, you can quickly send an emoji without opening the emoji panel. The default emoji is the Like button, and you’ll find it next to the input box. You can replace this Like button with an emoji of your choice. Tap the emoji to send it quickly.

Note: The default emoji is separate for all cats. You will need to replace it individually in the threads where you want to change it.

To replace the default message emoji on PC, open the chat you want to replace the emoji for and click the information icon (i) at the top. After that, click on the Change Emoji button present in the message and select the desired emoji.

On Messenger mobile apps, open the discussion thread. Tap the person’s name at the top. Then tap on Emoji and choose the new emoji.

Facebook Messenger Emoji Reactions Not Working

If you don’t see the plus (+) icon next to the message to change the custom reaction, you need to update the Messenger app. If that doesn’t solve the problem, uninstall Messenger and reinstall it. Find out what’s going on by uninstalling Facebook Messenger.