Emoji 2 Free for iOS

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on November 25, 2012

Emoticons make using punctuation marks so yesterday. To really show your friends how you're feeling, you need full-color smileys. You're sure to find a smiley face to fit your mood with Emoji 2 Free, but whether it'll actually make it to your recipient is another story.

We realize that Emoji 2 Free is a free app, but the barrage of ads for other apps was a little much. We're talking pop-ups, banner ads, and full-page ads that take over your entire screen; it wouldn't be difficult to accidentally tap one of them while browsing for a smiley. But once you get past the ads, you can browse through the long list of emoticons. Feeling happy? There's a long list of smiley faces showing variations of happy, from a full grin to lovey-dovey smile. Feeling angry? You're sure to find a face to fit your foul mood. And if you're feeling more monsterlike, there are monster-themed faces to show your friends how you feel. You'll even find zombie-themed emoticons for an especially bad day. A menu at the bottom of the page gives you quick access to recently used emoticons, as well as favorites. And, of course, there are buttons that take you to more apps.

We selected a monster emoticon and it took us to Messages to send the text. We typed out our message and tapped the Send button as usual. We didn't see the emoticon with the message, but it took about 5 minutes for the text to go through. And what's more, the emoticon never appeared with our message on our recipient's phone. We sent another text with a different emoticon and had the same outcome.

If you're looking for a more graphic way to show your emotions and text-based emoticons aren't enough, we recommend looking for an emoticon app that actually works. Emoji 2 Free gave us a major sadface.