You can apply any emoji as a reaction to chat or channels messages in Teams

Earlier this year, we saw Microsoft add 3D Fluent design emojis to Teams. And now, it is rolling an update tagged 88080 in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap to Microsoft Teams that will allow users to react to both chat and channel messages with any emoji they want.

Currently, users only react to messages with a finite number of emojis. But now, with the expanded reactions they will be able to use any one of the over 800 existing Teams emojis to communicate. You can either browse or use the search bar to find the emoji you want to use to express yourself.

This update will also feature a new reactions user experience, which will help support the expanded reactions in Teams. According to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, “The reaction hover bar will now feature a reduced number of quick hover options to make space for an expanded reaction button. The reaction summary will also be moved from the top right of the message to the bottom of the message bubble to make space for the wide range of options that can now be added.”

The update’s release time has also been changed and is expected to start rolling out for Teams desktop apps (Windows and Mac), Teams mobile (Android and iOS), and Teams on the web in mid-November and reach general availability towards the end of December.