Momoji: create emoji shortcuts on Mac

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Momoji is a free Mac app () and optional set of keyboard stickers that makes typing emojis on Mac much faster . The app helps creating custom system-wide emoji shortcuts that works in every app .
Momoji is a free Mac app () and optional set of keyboard stickers that makes typing emojis on Mac much faster . The app helps creating custom system-wide emoji shortcuts that works in every app .

Keyboard stickers:

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Black

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$10
+ $2.5
Buy (out of stock)
black

White

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$10
+ $2.5
Buy (out of stock)
white
The emoji packs are available in black (for black keyboards ) and white (for white keyboards ). Because everyone uses different emojis , each pack contains 1762 emojis (4 sheets, see below) — all the emojis from iOS 10.0 / MacOS Sierra 10.12.0. We can place any sticker on (almost) any key. To create the shortcuts on MacOS, we use the free Momoji app. Once we've set-up the shortcuts, we can type the emojis instantly in any app using the Option (Alt) key.

Laser cut

Each emoji is cut using a laser. For each pack, the entire cutting path adds up to 113 feet. Click here to see the (high speed) laser cutting in action (many thanks to the laser manufacturer Grafisk Maskinfabrik).

High res printing

The emojis are printed in the USA , in high resolution (at 180 LPI. For comparison, the LPI value is around 85 for newsprint and 133 to 150 for books/magazines printed on uncoated paper).

Strong adhesive

The adhesive is really strong and allows the stickers to stay firmly in place , even when subject to heat or excessive rubbing. Despite the strong adhesive, we can still remove the stickers without inflicting damage to the keys.

1762 emojis

Each pack contains all the emojis — 1762 in total — from iOS 10.0 / MacOS Sierra 10.12.0 (including all the diversity emojis ).

Polyester

The emojis are printed on (transparent) polyester film, a substrate commonly used in industrial applications requiring outstanding heat and chemical resistance, as well as great outdoor durability. Its high stiffness also helps the stickers stay perfectly flat and prevent the edges from curling.

Fits all

The emojis are tiny in size and fit perfectly in the corner of both the newer style Mac keyboards — MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, Macbook — as well as older style Mac keyboards .

The Momoji app:

v0.9 beta • requires MacOS 10.11 or later • 15.8MB
The Momoji app is free and allows the easy creation of emoji shortcuts on MacOS (the real unicode emojis, not images). After setting-up the shortcuts, we can type emojis instantly in any app, using the Option (Alt) key. The app can be used along with the Momoji stickers, which aren't mandatory — the stickers help remembering the shortcuts.
The emojis available within the app depends on the MacOS version — the latest MacOS version will ensure access to all the latest emojis.

About:

Using the app:

1Download (it's free) and open the Momoji app.
2Click and drag emojis from the right panel onto any key.C
Note: a few keys can't be used for shortcuts, these are automatically deactivated (grayed-out) depending on your keyboard layout/language.
3Click on the Save button. This saves the shortcuts into a native MacOS shortcut file, so the Momoji app doesn't need to run after this, and can be closed.
4If an app (e.g. Chrome) is already open, the emoji shortcuts won't work in this app (e.g. Chrome) until it's been restarted — or for all apps, the whole Mac. The shortcuts should then work in every app , using the altoption key.

Tips: to make it easier remembering the emoji shortcuts, it can be very helpful to place emojis onto keys that could correspond to the emoji's name/description. For example, to help remembering the emoji shortcut, we could place it on the key F (F for flower); could be on the key P (peach), on the key H (heart), on the key K (kiss), etc.

Applying the stickers:

The Momoji stickers help remembering the shortcuts. Each pack consists of 4 separate sheets, containing 1762 emojis.
1Before applying the stickers onto the keyboard, use the app and make sure everything is working properly
2Clean (for example using a microfiber cloth) the keys that will be used, to remove any potential grease/contaminants
3To apply a specific emoji onto your keyboard, the best technique is to use tape (see video on the right-hand side)
4Be gentle with the stickers for a few days to make sure the adhesive adheresed to the surface

Deleting the app:

The shortcuts are stored into a DefaultKeyBinding.dict file — located at ~/Library/KeyBindings/. This is the file type supported by MacOS for shortcuts. The Momoji app doesn't run in the background — it's only used to view/create/modify the emoji shortcuts easily. The file containing the shortcuts can easily be removed in case of an issue:
With Momoji:
1 In the Momoji's menu: File -> Remove all emoji shortcuts
2 Restart your Mac
Or manually:
1 In the Finder app's menu: Go -> Go to Folder...
2 Type/copy paste ~/Library/KeyBindings
3 Delete the file DefaultKeyBinding.dict
4 Restart your Mac

Keyboard shortcuts:

Momoji shouldn't cause issues with other shortcuts/apps as it uses the altoption key, which is used in most languages to type special characters, that most of us rarely use. For example with the US keyboard, we can use the Option key to type Ω, , ß, etc.

Foreign keyboards:

The app automatically detects the keyboard layout (keyboard type and language). It should work with every Mac keyboards, however it hasn't been tested on every keyboard type/language, so if you encounter any issues, please let me know.
So far, it's been succesfully tested on most keyboards with Latin alphabets (U.S, British, French, Spanish, German, Danish, etc.), Russian keyboards, Greek keyboards. For keyboards that are using a special input mode (most asian keyboards), Momoji currently works with the Latin language (usually U.S.) which has been configured.

Shortcuts compatibility:

The emoji shortcuts work in all apps which support emojis and the system shortcuts. This means you can use the shortcuts in 99% of Mac apps. For example: in Messages, on the web (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, ...), Skype, iMovie, Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop (the newer versions that allow you to set the font to "Apple Color Emoji"), Spotify, TextEdit, Notes, Calendar, Slack, Evernote, etc. (One rare exception is Xcode, which does support emojis but ignores the shortcuts.)
It also works great on the Facebook website (as well as Messenger), which uses different emojis but will automatically translate Apple emojis into their own emojis as soon as you type, as if you were using the Touch Bar or the Character Viewer.

App security:

The Momoji app is signed using my Apple Developer ID (if not, do no run it, and contact me). The app is sandboxed, with an exception for reading/writing DefaultKeyBinding.dict, and accessing the last used emojis ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist.

Contact:

If you have any question, feedback, or issues, do not hesitate to send me an email at