Online, the waving hand is pretty much the universal hello–goodbye—the stand‑in for catching someone across the room and giving a quick, slightly awkward, totally charming little flap. Culturally it ranges from the royal/parade wave to the “Zoom hello” during clunky intros, and it’s the go‑to in Slack welcome threads and snappy TikTok comments when you’re popping into the chat. It’s meme‑coded for soft goodbyes, “I exist!” check‑ins, and playful IYKYK cameos—short, sweet, and a touch theatrical.
On Apple/iOS, it’s a glossy yellow‑gold palm tilted slightly, fingers splayed with the thumb out, plus small curved motion lines that put it mid‑wave—like it said “hey” before you did. Soft, rounded shading lends a 3D feel, and you can choose skin tones to match your IRL hand.
Functionally it covers a breezy “hi there,” a polite “I’m heading out,” or a sarcastic “bye, Felicia” after a mic drop. People use it to slide back into a thread after disappearing (ghosting‑recovery protocol), to greet new followers, or to signal “I’m lurking, but friendly.” Paired with sparkles it skews cute and flirty; with a door or a skull, it serves dramatic exit‑stage‑left energy.
Definition
A hand waving at you. iEmoji old name: Wave.
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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)
84 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
:wave:
Keywords
Previous Names:
Waving Hand Sign
Unicode Category Information
Unicode Category
Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs
Unicode Range
1F300–1F5FF
Unicode Subcategory
Hand Symbols
Proposed Unicode Information & Notes
Unicode Category
Abstract Concepts
Unicode Subcategory
Hand Symbols
Names & Annotations
WAVING HAND SIGN Old name: WAVING HAND Temporary Notes: Waving hello
