Get emojis to play nice?

Is there a way to receive emojis from others, no matter what Android version they have, no matter what app they use, no matter what brand phone or cell provider they have? I'm now on a Galaxy S5 with Android 4.4.4, and I've tried Android's stock message app, Verizon's Message+, and Hangouts... Obviously I'm not about to ask everyone I text to upgrade their phone if they can't upgrade their Android OS, so please don't suggest I do that haha!

And while I'm at it... some app's emojis are preferred, the way they look and all that. For instance, I like Verizon's Message+ emoji, but Hangouts all-in-one app. Any way I can use my preferred emoji, despite my choice of apps? Without rooting my phone, preferably.

Thanks all!

Welcome to AC :)
Are you trying to get your emoji to show on their phone? Yours should support it across all apps, but for anyone not on 4.4.4, the only way to get them to show without any third party plugins (and even those are hit or miss sometimes) is for them to use Hangouts. That will show all emoji regardless of whether they are using SMS or an "actual" Hangout. But for them to see the emoji across all apps is not possible, unfortunately :-\

Go SMS is a messaging app with Go Keyboard and it has emoji. Not sure if that's what you're liking for or not but it's pretty cool lol

Posted via the Android Central App