The message symbol is 💬 Speech balloon, U+1F4AC: the only emoji that Unicode's search words file under message, text and sms. After it come the other balloons, envelopes and mailboxes, plain-text signs, ready lines, drawn bubbles and combos.
Read the full guide
Five balloons
Unicode has five. Speech balloon is the general one, and its other name in the standard is comic book conversation bubble. Left speech bubble and Right anger bubble each have a text form. Thought balloon is filed under think and daydream, and Eye in speech bubble under witness.
What a mark means inside an app
The ticks, dots and arrows an app prints beside a message are that app's own drawings. They are not characters, so they cannot be copied and Unicode gives them no meaning. Everything on this page is a character.
CLDR files inbox and zero under Inbox tray, so typing zero on an emoji keyboard finds it.
E-mail carries a note in Unicode's names list: the glyph may have an E, not an @-sign.
The text form of ✉ takes the color and size of the words round it. The emoji form keeps its own.
Questions and answers
What is the symbol of a text message?
💬 Speech balloon. It is the only emoji with message, text, sms or typing among its search words, so it is what an emoji keyboard offers for any of them.
Is there a post emoji?
Four emoji carry the search word post: Post office, Japanese post office, Postal horn and Triangular flag. For a letter in the post, 📮 Postbox and ✉️ Envelope say it faster.
How do I make a speech bubble without emoji?
With brackets: ( hello ) or .oO( hmm ). Unicode 7.0 added outline bubbles such as Two speech bubbles, U+1F5EA, but they are not emoji, and a device without a font for them shows an empty box.
What does the thought balloon mean?
Unicode names it Thought balloon and CLDR files it under think, thoughts, daydream, dream and idea: something in the head, not said aloud.
All 58 message symbols
Speech and thought balloons 5
👁️🗨️Eye in speech bubbleU+1F441 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F5E8 U+FE0F. An eye inside a speech bubble, joined by a zero width joiner. CLDR files it under witness. Emoji 2.0.
🗨️Left speech bubbleU+1F5E8 U+FE0F. A speech bubble with its tail at the left. CLDR lists dialog. It has a text form. Emoji 2.0.
🗯️Right anger bubbleU+1F5EF U+FE0F. A spiky bubble with its tail at the right. Unicode's other name is shout right. It has a text form. Emoji 0.7.
💬Speech balloonU+1F4AC. The message symbol. The only emoji CLDR files under message, text, sms or typing. Unicode's other name for it is comic book conversation bubble. Emoji 0.6.
💭Thought balloonU+1F4AD. For what is thought and not said. CLDR lists think, thoughts, daydream and idea. Emoji 1.0.
Show all 58 message symbols (53 more)
Envelopes, mailboxes and the post 13
📪Closed mailbox with lowered flagU+1F4EA. One of Unicode's other names for it is empty mailbox. Emoji 0.6.
📫Closed mailbox with raised flagU+1F4EB. Unicode's other name: mailbox containing mail. Emoji 0.6.
📧E-mailU+1F4E7. Unicode notes the glyph may have an E, not an @-sign. Emoji 0.6.
✉️EnvelopeU+2709 U+FE0F. A letter. Unicode's other name is sealed envelope. It has a text form, which is the plain mail sign. Emoji 0.6.
📩Envelope with arrowU+1F4E9. An arrow pointing into an envelope. Unicode's note: sending mail. CLDR lists send. Emoji 0.6.
📥Inbox trayU+1F4E5. A tray with an arrow going in. The only emoji CLDR files under inbox, and it also gets zero. Emoji 0.6.
📨Incoming envelopeU+1F4E8. An envelope arriving. CLDR lists receive and delivering. Emoji 0.6.
💌Love letterU+1F48C. An envelope with a heart. Unicode files it with the hearts, not with the mail. Emoji 0.6.
📬Open mailbox with raised flagU+1F4EC. The door open and the flag up. Emoji 0.7.
📤Outbox trayU+1F4E4. A tray with an arrow going out. CLDR lists sent. Emoji 0.6.
🏤Post officeU+1F3E4. Another of the four filed under post. CLDR adds European; the other post office emoji is the Japanese one. Emoji 1.0.
📯Postal hornU+1F4EF. One of four emoji CLDR files under post. Emoji 1.0.
📮PostboxU+1F4EE. Unicode's other name: mailbox for sending mail. Emoji 0.6.
Phones 2
📱Mobile phoneU+1F4F1. Where most messages are read. Emoji 0.6.
📲Mobile phone with arrowU+1F4F2. An arrow pointing at a phone. Unicode's note says making a phone call; CLDR also lists receive. Emoji 0.6.
Message signs in plain text 8
@At signU+0040 Commercial at. Unicode's other name is at sign. The mark of an e-mail address, and plain text everywhere.
❞Closing quote mark, heavyU+275E Heavy double comma quotation mark ornament. Its partner, for the end.
❝Opening quote mark, heavyU+275D Heavy double turned comma quotation mark ornament. A heavy quote mark for the start of a quoted message.
✎Pencil, plain textU+270E Lower right pencil. A pencil that is not an emoji: writing a message.
〒Postal markU+3012 Postal mark. From the CJK Symbols and Punctuation block.
〠Postal mark faceU+3020 Postal mark face. The postal mark with a face.
⏎Return keyU+23CE Return symbol. The sign printed on a return key.
➤Send arrowU+27A4 Black rightwards arrowhead. A solid arrowhead, the usual shape of a send button.
Caption lines 9
💬 . . .Three typing dots
📱 Call or textEither is fine
✉️ Check your inboxAfter you have sent something
📬 Mail's hereFor the post
📨 Message receivedGot it
💬 New messageFor a status or a subject line
✉️ RSVP by ___Type the date over the blank
💬 Text meTwo words and a bubble
💭 Thinking of youA thought, sent
One-line bubbles 6
( . . . )A bubble with typing dots
[ 1 new message ]A notice in square brackets
<( hello )A bubble with its tail at the left
「 hi 」Corner brackets as a speech frame
.oO( hmm )A thought bubble
> quoted lineThe mark of a quoted reply
ASCII bubbles and an envelope 3
Sealed envelopeAn envelope from the front, 13 columns wide.
Speech bubbleA bubble with a tail, 15 columns wide. Type your own word over hello.
Thought bubbleA cloud with two small bubbles under it.
Message combos 12
📨🎉Good news insideIncoming envelope, then party popper.
👥💬Group chatBusts in silhouette, then speech balloon.
📥✅Inbox zeroInbox tray, then check mark button. CLDR files zero under the tray.
💌📮Letter in the postLove letter, then postbox.
📜💬Long message comingScroll, then speech balloon. Fair warning.
📩✅Message sentEnvelope with arrow, then check mark button.
🔔💬New messageBell, then speech balloon.
💬⏳Reply soonSpeech balloon, then hourglass not done.
💬👋Talk laterSpeech balloon, then waving hand. The hand follows the skin tone.
📱💬Text meMobile phone, then speech balloon.
💭🤔Thinking it overThought balloon, then thinking face.
📬✉️You have mailOpen mailbox with raised flag, then envelope.
How this list was compiled: Names, code points, sequences, skin tones and Emoji version numbers come from Unicode's emoji-test.txt, version 18.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/emoji/emoji-test.txt); item names are the CLDR short names with a capital. Search words are the CLDR English annotations (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotations/en.xml, main branch). Text forms come from emoji-variation-sequences.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/emoji/emoji-variation-sequences.txt) and the names of plain characters from UnicodeData.txt and NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt, https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt). Checked against the whole CLDR file: message, text, sms and typing are search words of Speech balloon alone; inbox of Inbox tray alone; post of four emoji. Other names and notes marked as Unicode's (comic book conversation bubble, shout right, sealed envelope, sending mail, mailbox containing mail, empty mailbox, mailbox for sending mail, the E in place of an @-sign) are quoted from NamesList.txt. Unicode 7.0 also has outline speech bubbles and envelopes that are not emoji (U+1F5E9 to U+1F5EB, U+1F582 to U+1F586); they are left out because a device without a font for them draws an empty box. The caption lines, the one-line bubbles, the three drawings and the combos with their names are this site's own. No app's icons or read marks are described. Licence: own work (the selection, the combo names and the wording are this site's own; emoji names, sequences and search words come from Unicode's data files and CLDR, under the Unicode License v3; facts from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, restated in this site's own words and credited in source)