The hash key emoji is the hashtag as a button—your portable “#” for everything from #mood to #ThisIsFine energy. It screams social media culture, whether you’re actually tagging a topic or parodying influencer speak with a dramatic #blessed. It also triggers instant phone-tree flashbacks: the eternal “Please press the hash key to continue,” complete with hold music vibes and a robotic voice judging your life choices. Coders wink with it too, nodding to comments in shell, Python, and YAML, or the classic shebang (#!) lore.
On Apple/iOS, it looks like a glossy, dark gray rounded-square keycap with a bright white hashtag centered, thick strokes and a subtle gradient that makes it feel pressable—like a physical keypad tile. It’s visually crisp, slightly beveled, and high-contrast, the kind of button your thumb instinctively wants to tap. People use it to mock over-hashtagging, to slap a label on a thought mid-text, or to add ironic air quotes in symbol form. It gets mixed up with the musical sharp sign sometimes, but this is the keypad-style number sign, not the notation from your piano teacher. Also known as the pound sign in phone-land, it’s great for weight-room jokes (# gains) or throwback landline humor. Whether you’re rallying a trend, punctuating a punchline, or navigating automated menus like a hero, this tiny tile delivers big hashtag energy.
Definition
A blue button with the text '#' on it. Number Sign.
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji was part of the proprietary / non-standardized emoji set first introduced by Japanese carriers like Softbank. These emojis became part of the Apple iPhone starting in iOS 2.2 as an unlockable feature on handsets sold in English speaking countries.
In iOS 5 / OSX 10.7, the underlying code that the Apple OS generates for this emoji was changed.
Emoji General Information
Twitter Emoji Popularity (Rank)
722 of 2393
Apple/iOS Picture
Google Android Picture
Google Hangouts Picture
Twitter.com Picture
LG Emoji Picture
Samsung Emoji Picture
Phantom Open Emoji Picture
Not created yet
ASCII Conversion
"Short Code" Name
:hash:
Keywords
Previous Names:
Blue Square Button Pound
Unicode Category Information
Unicode Category
Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs
Unicode Range
1F300–1F5FF
Unicode Subcategory
Enclosed Alphanumeric Symbols
Proposed Unicode Information & Notes
Unicode Category
Activities/work/entertainment
Unicode Subcategory
Enclosed Alphanumeric Symbols
Names & Annotations
HASH KEY Temporary Notes: pound key, number sign. Unify with ASCII # (U+0023) + (U+20E3)
