The up-left arrow is the digital equivalent of “I’m out, but make it diagonal.” It points to the northwest, perfect for nudging someone to look at a message or image element sitting in the top-left corner, calling back to a previous point, or giving big “back to square one” energy. People drop it in chats to signal a retreat-with-style, to reference the Pacific Northwest vibe, or as a jokey stage direction: exit, stage left… and up. Gamers read it as a jump-back on a D‑pad or fighting game move; spreadsheet folks think “cell A1,” aka the motherland of grids.
On Apple/iOS, it’s a crisp white arrow angled at 45 degrees toward the upper-left, set inside a glossy blue rounded square with a gentle gradient—clean, bold, and instantly spotable in a sea of text. The arrowhead is sharp and triangular, the shaft slim and geometric, with that polished iOS tile look that screams “button you want to tap.” Elsewhere it may appear as a simple black glyph, but the Apple version looks like a shiny UI control beckoning you back to the corner. It’s used sarcastically to suggest bailing on a convo, flirtatiously to hint “my heart went that way,” or meme-style to point at something intentionally placed up-left in a screenshot. Bonus associations: compass talk (NW winds), map directions, and throwback vibes to old UIs where all the good stuff hid in the top-left.
Definition
A blue button with an arrow pointing North-West. iEmoji old name: Blue Square Button Up Left.
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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)]
