Emoji Font iOS 17.4

AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc (for iOS 10+)

Compressed, 160x160 image set included.
For iOS 10-13, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core and rename that file to AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc.
For iPhone SE 1st gen, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core and rename that file to AppleColorEmoji.ttc.
Otherwise, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/CoreAddition.

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc (for iOS 10 - 13)

Place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core.

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttf (for iOS 5 to 9)

For iOS 8.2 to 9.3, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core.
For iOS 5.1 to 8.1, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Cache.

Remarks

Refer to your default emoji font location from this table:

If you are on iOS 10 or higher, download either AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc or AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc. The AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc one includes 160x160 emoji images.

If you are on iOS 9 or lower, download AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttf.

Once you downloaded the font from here, rename it to match with the default emoji font name found from the table above then copy it to the path indicated by that same table.

You may use this UI to locate your emoji font path.

Emoji Font iOS 16.4

AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc (for iOS 10+)

Compressed, 160x160 image set included.
For iOS 10-13, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core and rename that file to AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc.
For iPhone SE 1st gen, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core and rename that file to AppleColorEmoji.ttc.
Otherwise, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/CoreAddition.

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc (for iOS 10 - 13)

Place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core.

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttf (for iOS 5 to 9)

For iOS 8.2 to 9.3, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core.
For iOS 5.1 to 8.1, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Cache.

Remarks

Refer to your default emoji font location from this table:

If you are on iOS 10 or higher, download either AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc or AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc. The AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc one includes 160x160 emoji images.

If you are on iOS 9 or lower, download AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttf.

Once you downloaded the font from here, rename it to match with the default emoji font name found from the table above then copy it to the path indicated by that same table.

You may use this UI to locate your emoji font path.

Emoji Font iOS 15.4

AppleColorEmoji-160px.ttc (for iOS 14+)

Compressed, 160x160 image set included.
For iPhone SE 1st gen, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core and rename that file to AppleColorEmoji.ttc
Otherwise, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/CoreAddition

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc (for iOS 10+)

Place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core

AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttf (for iOS 5 to 9)

For iOS 8.2 to 9.3, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Core
For iOS 5.1 to 8.1, place the downloaded file at /System/Library/Fonts/Cache

Update 2022-02-09: Updated fonts to be from iOS 15.4b2
Update 2022-02-16: Updated fonts to be from iOS 15.4b3
Update 2022-02-19: Fixed multi-skin emojis not rendered correctly on iOS 13 and below
Update 2022-03-31: Updated AppleColorEmoji@2x.ttc to support iOS 10 and higher (including iOS 14 and higher)
Update 2022-12-30: Updated AppleColorEmoji@2x.tt{c,f} to the version that uses pngquant optimization
Update 2023-01-23: Updated fonts to be from iOS 16, Removed non-original emoji sizes
Update 2023-01-28: Optimized PNG images with oxipng