Emoji renders as [?] boxes on iOS 26 simulator (Xcode 26)

[Mile-Away]

Description

Emoji characters render as [?] placeholder boxes in React Native <Text> components on the iOS 26 simulator (Xcode 26.3, build 17C529). This affects all emoji — inline, standalone, flag sequences, and Unicode escape sequences.

Safari running in the same simulator renders emoji correctly, confirming the font (AppleColorEmoji) is present and registered. The issue is specific to React Native's CoreText text rendering path.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a new React Native project (tested with RN 0.84.1 via @react-native-community/cli)
2. Add emoji to a <Text> component:

   <Text>Hello 🚀 World 🎨 Test ✅</Text>
   <Text>Pure emoji: 😀😃😄😁😆😅🤣😂</Text>
   <Text>Flags: 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 🇯🇵 🇬🇧</Text>

3. Run on iOS 26 simulator (any device — iPhone 16, iPhone 17 Pro, etc.)
4. All emoji appear as [?] boxes

Expected behavior

Emoji should render using the AppleColorEmoji font, as they do in Safari and native UIKit apps on the same simulator.

Actual behavior

All emoji render as [?] replacement characters/boxes.

Environment

• React Native: 0.84.1 (also reproduced on 0.83.2)
• JS Engine: Hermes (also tested with JSC — same result)
• Architecture: New Architecture / Fabric (also tested with Old Architecture — same result)
• Xcode: 26.3 (build 17C529)
• iOS Simulator: 26.3.1 (23D8133)
• macOS: Darwin 25.3.0 (arm64)

Investigation done

• ✅ Confirmed AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc exists in the simulator runtime at CoreAddition/AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc
• ✅ Confirmed font is registered (CTFontManagerRegisterFontsForURL returns "already exists")
• ✅ Confirmed Safari in the same simulator renders emoji correctly
• ✅ Tested Hermes vs JSC — no difference
• ✅ Tested New Architecture vs Old Architecture — no difference
• ✅ Tested RN 0.83.2 and 0.84.1 — both affected
• ✅ Attempted RCTSetDefaultFontHandler with AppleColorEmoji in cascade list — no effect
• ❌ Unable to test on iOS 18 simulator (Xcode 26 only ships iOS 26 runtime)

Notes

• This may be an iOS 26 simulator-specific issue (real devices may be unaffected)
• The root cause appears to be in how React Native's native text rendering (via CoreText/TextKit) resolves the emoji font cascade on iOS 26
• No older iOS simulator runtimes are available through Xcode 26 to compare

[react-native-bot]

Warning

Missing reproducer: We could not detect a reproducible example in your issue report. Reproducers are mandatory and we can accept only one of those as a valid reproducer:

• For majority of bugs: send us a Pull Request with the RNTesterPlayground.js edited to reproduce your bug.
• If your bug is UI related: a Snack
• If your bug is build/upgrade related: a project using our Reproducer Template

You can read more about about it on our website: How to report a bug.

[Mile-Away]

Reproducer

https://github.com/Mile-Away/rn-ios26-emoji-reproducer

Created from the official reproducer template. The App.tsx contains various emoji rendering tests (inline, pure sequences, flags, skin tone modifiers, heart variants).

To reproduce:

cd ReproducerApp
yarn install
cd ios && bundle install && bundle exec pod install && cd ..
yarn ios

Run on any iOS 26 simulator device. All emoji will render as [?] boxes instead of colorful emoji glyphs.

[Mile-Away]

Update: Confirmed simulator-only issue

Tested on a physical iPhone 17 Pro Max (iOS 26) — all emoji render correctly. This confirms the bug is iOS 26 Simulator only, not affecting real devices.

The issue appears to be in how the iOS 26 Simulator's CoreText font cascade handles AppleColorEmoji when used through React Native's native text rendering path (UIKit/CoreText). Safari in the same simulator renders emoji fine, suggesting WebKit has its own font fallback that bypasses this issue.

TL;DR: Simulator bug only. Real devices are unaffected.

[CllDMR]

Having same issue. Images from Safari with example website.

[oskarnellfors]

When I dug into the storage of the emulator it seems like the emoji-font simply is missing in font-folder of the runtime iOS 26.3.1. Seems like an Apple mistake.

[cubancodepath]

well hitting the same issue, so lets wait until Apple fix

[frovere]

iOS 26.1 simulator works fine, install older iOS version from xcode > preferences > components > add platforms...

[shredN]

it appears there was an issue with iOS 26.1 + 26.3.1 simulators only, latest iOS 26.4 simulator works fine.

[pranjal2410719]

Thanks for the detailed investigation — this lines up with what others are seeing.

This doesn’t appear to be a React Native issue, but rather a bug in the iOS 26 simulator (CoreText font fallback). React Native relies on the system text rendering stack, and in affected simulator versions (26.1–26.3), the emoji font isn’t resolved correctly in that path.

Fix:

• Update to a newer simulator runtime (iOS 26.4 or later), where this issue has been resolved

• Or temporarily use:

  • an older simulator (e.g. iOS 26.1 if available), or
  • a physical device (not affected)

Multiple reports confirm that emoji rendering works correctly again on iOS 26.4 simulators and on real devices.

So the root cause is a simulator regression, not something in React Native itself.

[sgandon]

Same issue on the simulator ios 26.3.
Any workaround ?
Some one mention the emoji font missing in a folder, can it be manually added ?
I have done some local search and this file exists :

/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Volumes/iOS_23D8133/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/iOS 26.3.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/Fonts/CoreAddition/AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc

Not sure this is the right one though.

[elijahsanders152-stack]

As mentioned earlier in the thread, this appears to be a regression in the iOS 26 simulator (CoreText font fallback) rather than a React Native issue.

…

On Thu, Apr 9, 2026, 3:02 AM Sébastien Gandon ***@***.***> wrote: *sgandon* left a comment (facebook/react-native#56183) <#56183 (comment)> Same issue on the simulator ios 26.3. Any workaround ? Some one mention the emoji font missing in a folder, can it be manually added ? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#56183 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B7GEOJMRXYNRS2C42VGNPPD4U5DI7AVCNFSM6AAAAACW3VHREOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DEMJSGE2DAMZUGU> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>