Free Online Text to Emoji Encryption
Encrypt text with a password and write the result as emojis, then decrypt emojis back to text. The message is protected with AES-256-GCM and a key derived from your password, so only someone with the password can read it.
100% client-side · Web Crypto · Nothing is stored or sent
Strength assumes random characters, so a password you made up is weaker than shown. Guess time assumes 100,000 guesses per second, and every guess costs 600,000 hash rounds.
Send the password through a different channel from the message. If the password is lost, the message cannot be recovered.
How Emoji Encryption Works
Your text is turned into bytes and, if that makes it shorter, compressed. A random 16-byte salt is mixed with your password through PBKDF2-SHA-256 (600,000 rounds) to make a 256-bit key, and the bytes are then encrypted with AES-256-GCM using a random 12-byte nonce. The result is a small header, the salt, the nonce and the encrypted data with its authentication tag.
Each byte of that result is written as one emoji from a fixed alphabet of 256 emojis, which is easy to copy and paste between apps. To decrypt, the emojis are turned back into bytes and the same steps are run in reverse. If the password is wrong or a single emoji was changed, the authentication check fails and nothing is shown.
AES-256-GCM
Authenticated encryption, so a wrong password or an edited message is always detected
PBKDF2, 600,000 Rounds
Your password is stretched into the key with a random salt for every message
One Emoji per Byte
A fixed alphabet of 256 single-code-point emojis that copies cleanly between apps
Strength and Guess Time
Password strength in bits and the average time to guess it
Smart Compression
Longer messages are compressed first when that makes the emoji string shorter
Reads Older Messages
A switch decrypts messages made by the earlier version of this tool
Explore more free tools in our security tools collection, including our strong random password generator.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is this real encryption?
Yes. Your text is encrypted with AES-256-GCM, using a key derived from your password with PBKDF2-SHA-256 (600,000 rounds) and a random salt and nonce. The emojis are only a way of writing the encrypted bytes, one emoji per byte. Anyone without the password sees nothing but a string of emojis.
2. How strong is the protection?
It depends on your password. The page estimates the password strength in bits and how long guessing would take at 100,000 guesses per second, which is generous for an attacker because every guess costs 600,000 hash rounds. Aim for 80 bits or more: the Suggest password button makes a random 20-character password of about 120 bits.
3. What happens if I forget the password?
The message cannot be recovered. The password is the only key, nothing is stored anywhere, and nobody, including this site, can reset it.
4. What happens if I type the wrong password or the emojis are changed?
Decryption fails with an error. AES-GCM checks that the message is genuine, so a wrong password and a message that was edited or cut short are both detected instead of producing garbled text.
5. Why is the emoji message longer than my text?
Each emoji stands for one byte. On top of your text, the message carries 47 bytes: a version and settings header, the salt, the nonce and the authentication tag. Characters outside basic English use 2 to 4 bytes each, and the page compresses longer messages when that makes them shorter.
6. Can I send the emojis through any app?
Most chat, social and email apps keep emojis intact, but some strip or replace them, so copy the whole message and check that it arrives unchanged. The page ignores spaces, line breaks and invisible emoji variation marks that an app may add. Send the password through a different channel from the message.
7. Can I decrypt messages made by the earlier version of this tool?
Yes: tick the box for messages made by the earlier version on the Decrypt tab. That version only shifted letters by an amount taken from the password, which is not real encryption and can be broken in moments, so please encrypt such messages again here.
8. Is the message length limited?
The page accepts up to 20,000 characters. Very long messages make very long emoji strings that some apps cannot paste, so for large content, share an encrypted file instead.
9. Is my data stored or sent anywhere?
No. Encryption and decryption happen in your browser, the page’s content security policy blocks outgoing network requests, no outside scripts are loaded, and nothing is saved. Closing the tab discards everything.
10. Do emojis hide the fact that a message is encrypted?
No. A long run of random-looking emojis is easy to recognise as encoded data. The emojis make the message easy to copy and share, while the encryption is what keeps it private.