The beating heart is the drama-queen cousin of the classic red heart—same feelings, but with a visible “thump-thump” energy. It screams crush-mode, adrenaline, or that moment when your fave drops a surprise comeback and you forget how to breathe. People use it flirtatiously (“you texted back and now my pulse is doing parkour”), supportively (“so proud of you I’m vibrating”), or ironically (“after three espressos my heart is live-streaming”). It also moonlights in memes for jump-scare reactions, gym PR brags, and the universal “I’m not okay but in a fun way.”
On Apple/iOS, it’s a glossy pink heart with small motion lines radiating off the side, like a comic-book sound effect you can practically hear. Those little lines are the giveaway: unlike the solid ❤️, this one visually pulses; unlike 💗 (growing heart), it doesn’t stack hearts—just beats. You’ll spot it in stan replies, thirst tweets, and texts that read like a rom-com montage, often paired with all-caps shrieking and ten exclamation marks. Perfect for swoons, near-faints, and any moment your heart says “bestie, this is a lot.”
Definition
Pulsating heart emoji. "I can hear your heart beat." If that isn't the definition of love then I don't know what is. What is love! This emoji icon was the replacement for "Sparkling Heart" in iOS 5 but is still available and accessible like many others!
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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.
