U+1F511 · emoji since 2010
The key unlocks doors, secrets, and solutions. It means access, security, and the answer that opens everything up.
Figuratively it is the key to success and the major key of advice, the one crucial thing that makes it all click.
In texting, 🔑 does not carry a widely used hidden or slang meaning, so you can usually take it at face value. People send it just as it looks, to add a little visual touch or set the mood of a message. Only a handful of emoji have a separate texting code, and 🔑 is not really one of them.
Its official Unicode name is the Key emoji. In everyday chat most people just call it the key emoji or describe what it shows. Copy and paste it from the button at the top of this page.
The 🔑 leads off a short phrase, and the rest of the words are written in cipher, every letter disguised as another emoji. Tap decipher to reveal the whole line.
Or make your own cipher in the translator.