The up-right arrow is the internet’s shorthand for “onward and upward,” the visual equivalent of a hype coach pointing at the future. People drop it when they’re bragging about gains (gym PRs, stock charts, crypto spikes), plotting a glow-up, or signaling progress on anything from careers to coffee habits. It also doubles as a neat UI wink—think of the little icon that means “opens in a new tab”—so you’ll see it used to hint at links, next steps, or a strategic exit stage right (but, you know, diagonally). In meme land it screams “number go up,” sometimes earnestly, sometimes with deadpan irony after a spectacular flop.
On Apple/iOS, this emoji shows as a bold white arrow angled at a crisp 45°, aimed straight at the top-right corner of a glossy, rounded blue square. The arrowhead is clean and geometric, the shaft thick and confident, with a subtle gradient that makes it pop like a polished app icon. It’s perfect for pointing to the top-right of a screenshot, teasing a big life update, or flirting with “we’re going places 😉.” And when you want to be sarcastic, send it after disappointing stats to manifest that mythical hockey-stick curve—manifestation via emoji is a vibe.
Definition
A blue button with an arrow pointing North-East. iEmoji old name: Blue Square Button Up Right.
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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.
The code generated for this emoji was changed slightly in iOS 7 / OSX 10.9 (a variation selector was added) advising the OS to display character emoji style instead of black and white text when available. We don't mind Apple, thank you! We just love our emojis! [Sources 11438-emoji-var.pdf 13.7 Variation Selectors (unicode.org)]
