Pickleball Emoji for iOS: Apple might finally add a pickleball emoji to its iPhone keyboard, thanks to a new push by Nick O’Brien, the President and Chief Operating Officer of TeachMe.To. In mid-April 2025, O’Brien started a petition on Change.org asking Apple to approve a pickleball emoji design for iOS 19. The goal is to collect 25,000 signatures to show how many people support this effort.
Nick O’Brien believes that pickleball deserves an emoji just like other sports. TeachMe.To is a platform that connects students with coaches for lessons. O’Brien’s campaign has already gained over 50 signatures and is aiming for many more. He says having a real pickleball emoji would help people communicate better about the sport.
Why Pickleball Needs an Emoji
Nick O’Brien says that pickleball is growing fast across the United States. In places like San Diego and Southern California, people can play year-round, which makes it even more popular.
“It’s the fastest growing sport in the U.S., and even more so, it has outsized growth here in San Diego and Southern California as a whole because you can play year-round and you’ve got a racket sports community here. But all these people, tens of millions of people, are using a ping pong emoji and tennis makeshift emojis every time they’re texting or tweeting about it.” – (O’Brien)
Right now, people use emojis for tennis or ping pong to represent pickleball. But O’Brien says that’s not enough.
View this post on Instagram
The Fight for Recognition
Nick O’Brien says that a pickleball emoji would make a big difference in how the sport is seen.
“It’s going to change the way people are able to actually communicate about the sport. Even obscure sports like curling or all those Olympic sports have an emoji, so we think it’s finally time that pickleball gets recognized.” – (O’Brien)
TeachMe.To worked with graphic designer Michael Celedonia to create a new emoji for Apple to review. The design does not use a pickle or a ping pong paddle. Instead, it shows a real paddle and ball used in pickleball.
Serena Neumeyer from the Times of San Diego reported that O’Brien believes this emoji will help the sport feel more official and give players a stronger online voice.
“O’Brien stresses how the absence of a pickleball emoji forces players to fight an uphill battle just to be seen online. By having a paddle-ball emoji of their own, he says it will instantly validate the sport and ensure a language online that reflects the culture.” – (Neumeyer)
What Comes Next?
O’Brien is hoping for support from the pickleball community and beyond.
“It’s well over half of people who regularly use emojis daily in communication. So if they’re doing that and they’re playing pickleball, then they should want there to be a pickleball emoji to express themselves. I would ask people if they’ve ever picked up a pickleball paddle or been on a pickleball court this year, they should help us get that.” – (Neumeyer)
If the petition reaches its goal, the request could be sent to the Unicode Consortium, the group that helps decide which emojis are added to devices. Supporters hope Apple sees how important this is to players and includes the emoji in iOS 19.
News in Brief: Pickleball Emoji for iOS
Nick O’Brien of TeachMe.To started a petition for a pickleball emoji to be included in Apple’s iOS 19. With over 50 signatures so far, the campaign highlights the sport’s growth and the need for better online representation. The emoji could help pickleball players feel seen and heard.
ALSO READ: Pickleball Lovers Demand Pickleball Emoji: The Apple Battle