You're scrolling through your emoji keyboard, looking for that perfect Parisian vibe. You type "Paris." Nothing. You type "France." You get a flag. Then you try "tower." You see a generic broadcast tower and maybe that Tokyo Tower one with the red and white stripes. But where on earth is the Eiffel Tower emoji? Honestly, it feels like a glitch in the matrix. How can the most photographed landmark in the world, a global icon of romance and engineering, not have its own dedicated little yellow and grey icon?
It’s frustrating.
The truth is, there isn't a specific "Eiffel Tower" emoji in the official Unicode Standard. If you’ve seen it on a friend's phone or a specific social media app, there is usually a technical reason behind it that involves custom stickers or font overrides rather than a universal character. Understanding why this gap exists tells us a lot about how the internet is built and who gets to decide what symbols we use to communicate.
The Unicode Mystery: Is There an Eiffel Tower Emoji?
To get to the bottom of this, we have to talk about the Unicode Consortium. They’re the gatekeepers. They are a non-profit group that decides which characters get turned into code so that when I send a heart from my iPhone, you see a heart on your Android.
Technically, there is a character called Tokyo Tower (🗼). Because the Tokyo Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower and shares a similar lattice structure, many people just use it as a proxy. On most platforms, it looks red and white. That’s because the actual Tokyo Tower is painted those colors for aviation safety. If you’re trying to represent the Iron Lady of Paris, a bright orange-red tower feels... wrong. It’s like using a hot dog emoji to represent a baguette. Close, but definitely not the same thing.
Why Unicode hasn't added a specific French version
You might wonder why they don't just add a "Paris Tower" to the mix. The Unicode Consortium has become increasingly picky over the last few years. They generally try to avoid "encoding" specific landmarks if a generic version already exists. Their philosophy is built on universality. If they add the Eiffel Tower, do they then have to add the Burj Khalifa? The Empire State Building? The Space Needle?
Where does it end?
They prefer symbols that represent a concept rather than a specific geographic location. However, they've broken this rule plenty of times. We have the Statue of Liberty (🗽) and the Moai (🗿). We even have the Kaaba (🕋). So, the "universality" argument feels a bit thin when you realize we have an emoji for a "floppy disk" but not the most famous tower in Europe.
The Copyright Myth vs. Reality
There is a persistent urban legend floating around TikTok and old Reddit threads. You’ve probably heard it: "The Eiffel Tower is copyrighted at night, so Apple can't make an emoji of it."
That’s mostly a misunderstanding of French law. It is true that the light show on the Eiffel Tower is considered an artistic work protected by copyright. The Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) maintains that you need permission to publish photos of the tower illuminated at night for commercial use. But emojis are tiny, stylized representations. Most legal experts agree that a 32x32 pixel icon of a lattice tower wouldn't trigger a massive international lawsuit.
The real reason is much more boring. It's just bureaucracy. Nobody has submitted a proposal to Unicode that has survived the grueling multi-year approval process. Or, more accurately, the "Tokyo Tower" emoji is considered "good enough" by the people in charge of the keyboard.
How People Are Faking the Eiffel Tower Emoji
Since we don't have a dedicated button, humans have done what they always do: they got creative. If you look at travel influencers or "Parisian chic" Instagram captions, you'll see a few common workarounds.
- The Tokyo Tower (🗼): This is the "official" substitute. On some platforms, especially older ones or specific desktop fonts, it looks more bronze/grey than red, making it a better fit.
- The "Cityscape" approach: People often pair the French Flag (🇫🇷) with the European Castle (🏰) or the Classical Building (🏛️) to evoke a European feel.
- Custom Stickers: On apps like Telegram or WhatsApp, you can download "Paris" sticker packs. These aren't true emojis—you can't put them in the middle of a sentence of text—but they look much better.
- The Sparkles + Tower Combo: To signify the "Sparkling Eiffel Tower" at night, the common "code" is 🗼✨.
The Architecture of Emojis: A Deep Dive into Selection
Designing an emoji isn't just about drawing a picture. It's about data. The Unicode Emoji Subcommittee looks at "frequency of use." They want to know if people will actually use a symbol.
Ironically, the lack of an Eiffel Tower emoji might be because the Tokyo Tower emoji already "soaks up" all the search traffic for tower-related icons. When the committee looks at the data, they see people using the Tokyo Tower and assume the "Tower" need is being met. It’s a bit of a catch-22.
In 2024 and 2025, there was a push for more "travel and places" icons, but the focus shifted toward diversity and inclusivity—think different skin tones and accessibility icons—rather than adding more buildings. The queue for new emojis is miles long, and a French landmark just hasn't made the cut yet.
What about the 2024 Olympics?
Many expected a Paris-specific emoji to drop during the 2024 Summer Olympics. It didn't happen. Instead, we got more sport-specific icons. It was a missed opportunity for the "Parisian Tower" advocates. It proves that even massive global events aren't always enough to sway the technical standards of our digital alphabet.
Key Alternatives and What They Mean
If you’re writing a blog post or captioning a photo of your trip to the Champ de Mars, here is how to navigate the current keyboard:
- The French Flag (🇫🇷): It's the most reliable way to signal "France" without ambiguity.
- The Arc de Triomphe Vibe: Since there is no Arc either, people often use the "Classical Building" (🏛️).
- The Croissant (🥐) and Wine (🍷): Honestly? These are used more often to represent Paris than any building icon. They are the shorthand for the "Parisian lifestyle."
- The Love Letter (💌) or Heart (❤️): Because Paris is the city of love, these are the standard emotional pairings for any French-themed content.
How to Request a New Emoji
Believe it or not, you can actually pitch this to the Unicode Consortium. Anyone can. But it’s not just an email saying "Hey, add the Eiffel Tower."
You have to write a formal proposal. You need to provide evidence of high potential usage. You have to show how it's distinct from existing emojis. You have to prove it's not a "passing fad." Given that the Eiffel Tower has been standing since 1889, the "fad" argument is easy to beat. The hard part is proving that it’s fundamentally different from the 🗼 character already on your phone.
👉 See also: Infuse on Apple TV: Why Your 4K Library Probably Looks Worse Than It Should
Most people don't realize that the emoji keyboard is essentially a living language. It evolves. But it evolves at the speed of a glacier.
Actionable Steps for Your Social Media
Since we are stuck in a world without a native Eiffel Tower emoji, here is how to handle your digital communication like a pro:
- Check your platform: On some custom Android skins or specific messaging apps, the 🗼 icon is redesigned to look more like the Eiffel Tower. Always check how it looks on your screen before assuming it looks like a red radio mast to everyone else.
- Use Keyword Replacements: If you are on an iPhone, you can go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement. You can make it so that whenever you type "Eiffel," it automatically pastes a high-res sticker or a specific string of emojis like 🇫🇷🗼.
- Lean on the Flag: In the world of SEO and social media algorithms, the flag emoji 🇫🇷 is more highly "indexed" for French content than the tower anyway.
- Search for "Landmarks": If you use a third-party keyboard like Gboard or SwiftKey, use the integrated GIF search. Searching "Eiffel Tower" there will give you a thousand animated options that are way more expressive than a static emoji.
The lack of this specific icon is one of those weird quirks of the digital age. We have an emoji for a "levitating man in a business suit" (🕴️) and a "floppy disk" (💾), but the world's most famous tower remains hidden behind a red Japanese landmark. Until Unicode decides to change things, we'll just have to keep using our imagination—and a lot of croissant emojis.