U+1F642 · emoji since 2015
The slight smile is the most polite emoji on the keyboard, and the most loaded. At face value it's gentle contentment, a calm friendly nod.
In practice, tone matters: between some people it's sincere warmth, between others it's the smile you make while saying it's fine when it is not fine. Online generations read it very differently, which is half its charm.
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 Slightly Smiling Face emoji. In everyday chat most people just call it the slightly smiling face 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.