Call me hand emoji 🤙 (shaka, hang loose)
🤙 is the call me hand: thumb and little finger extended, held like a telephone. Unicode named it for the “call me” mime, but it is far better known as the shaka — the…
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What the call me hand 🤙 (shaka, hang loose) emoji means
🤙 is the call me hand: thumb and little finger extended, held like a telephone. Unicode named it for the “call me” mime, but it is far better known as the shaka — the Hawaiian and surfer sign for “hang loose”, “all good”, “right on”. It is the emoji for a laid-back thumbs up: chill, no worries, thanks bro. Added in Emoji 3.0 (2016) with all five skin tones, it is a staple of surf, skate and beach captions and a friendly sign-off between guys in particular. It is neither 🤘 rock on nor 🤟 I love you; the hand emoji guide lines them all up.
Unicode name: call me hand · U+1F919 · Emoji 3.0 (2016) · group: People & Body.
How people use it
- Hang loose: chill, no worries, all good
- Thanks bro: a casual thumbs up
- Surf and beach: Hawaii, aloha
- Call me: the literal phone mime
Compare the options
| Emoji | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| call me handU+1F919 | Shaka: hang loose | |
| sign of the hornsU+1F918 | Rock on | |
| love-you gestureU+1F91F | I love you | |
| OK handU+1F44C | OK, perfect | |
| telephone receiverU+1F4DE | Call |
The pinky emoji and shaka brah
The 🤙 gesture extends the thumb and little finger while the other fingers stay curled. There is no standalone pinky-only emoji in the standard set, so the call me hand is the closest symbol when you want to show a shaka. In casual chats, “shaka brah 🤙” can mean “thanks, mate” or “chill out”, and the gesture is often used as a relaxed greeting or farewell.
You can copy the 🤙 character from the button at the top of this page and paste it into any app that supports emoji, with or without a skin tone modifier.
🤙 skin tones: what 🤙🏻 and 🤙🏾 mean
The call me hand emoji supports five skin tones. 🤙🏻 is the light skin tone version, 🤙🏾 is medium-dark, and the others are 🤙🏼, 🤙🏽 and 🤙🏿. The meaning does not change: it is still a shaka, a laid-back “hang loose”. Choosing a skin tone is simply about matching how you look, or how the person you are talking to looks.
The default 🤙 has no skin tone modifier. On many phones, long-pressing the emoji opens a skin tone picker.
Questions people ask
What does 🤙 mean?
Shaka: hang loose, all good, chill — a relaxed thumbs up. Literally, “call me”.
What does 🤙 mean from a guy?
A casual, friendly “sounds good” or “cheers”. It is one of the most common bro sign-offs.
Is 🤙 a surfer thing?
Yes — the shaka comes from Hawaii and surf culture, though it is used everywhere now.
About this guide
Written and maintained by the Emoji Directory editorial team, without ads or sponsorship. Meanings describe how the emoji is commonly used in public posts and messages, not an official definition. Names, code points, versions, keywords and translations come from the Unicode Emoji 18.0 and CLDR data; shortcodes from the gemoji project. Last reviewed . Spotted a mistake or a new usage? Tell us, or read how the directory is made.
