🤙 is a hand with the thumb and pinky stretched out and the other fingers curled in. Unicode added it in 2016 (version 9.0) as the “call me hand,” named for the gesture of holding a pretend phone to your ear. In real life, though, most people read it as the shaka, the relaxed wave of Hawaii and surf culture, so one emoji often means two things: “phone me” and “take it easy.”
How it’s used
- Asking for a call: “Text me when you’re done 🤙”
- A casual goodbye: “Catch you later 🤙”
- Easygoing encouragement: “Don’t sweat it, you’ve got this 🤙”
- Thanks and respect: “Appreciate you, man 🤙”
- Beach and travel vibes: “Surf’s up this weekend 🤙”
It is a very laid-back emoji, so it suits friendly chats, a summer vacation post or a surf shop’s social account more than a stiff email. Don’t confuse it with 📞 or 📱, which are the actual phone, or with 🤟 (love-you gesture) and 🤘 (sign of the horns), which use different combinations of fingers. The three-finger 🤟 is the American Sign Language “I love you.”
Korea, Japan and the English-speaking world
In English, both meanings are live. “Call me” is the literal reading, but in Hawaii the same hand is the shaka, used to say hello, thanks, goodbye or “all good,” and surfers and skaters across California and Australia use it the same way. “Hang loose 🤙,” “Chill 🤙” and “Catch you later 🤙” are the typical company it keeps, and it can come across as breezy and optimistic.
In Korea the pretend-phone gesture is familiar, so “call me” is the first reading. In chats it is not a high-traffic emoji, so using it gives a slightly cool or jokey impression. In surf and Hawaii travel contexts, it takes on the shaka meaning.
In Japan the name is 電話の合図, the “phone signal,” and the sign of thumb and pinky at the ear is widely recognized for 電話して (“call me”). It appears in messages like 連絡してね🤙, and in beach or surfing scenes it can feel like a Hawaiian greeting. It is an occasional extra rather than a daily staple.
Where it gets misread
- Whether it means “call me” or just “cool, see you” depends on the sentence. If you need a call, say so in words.
- It is easy to mix with 🤟 and 🤘. If three fingers are out, that is 🤟.
- In formal settings or business email, it can look too casual.
- Skin tone variants exist, and some people read the chosen tone as part of the message. In work messages, the default yellow is the safest.
Design differences by platform
Every platform shows a hand with thumb and pinky extended, but the angle of the wrist, the direction the palm faces, the thickness of the fingers and the presence of a sleeve differ. On some devices it looks more like a phone gesture and on others more like a shaka. Skin tone options are available alongside the default yellow. The only safe generalization is that the hand is usually tilted as if mid-wave.
