Summary
Emojis transcend cultural and language barriers.
Unfortunately, it’s not a great idea, and here are five reasons why.
You Might Get Locked Out
Have you ever actually tried using an emoji in a password?
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If you have, you know that some platforms allow emojis while others don’t.
This is not a huge issue in and of itself.
Predictability
When it comes to passwords, people tend to gravitate toward common phrases and easy-to-guess number combinations.
Cross-Platform Issues
Emojis are part of the Unicode standard and are the same across all platforms and operating systems.
Still, you’ve probably noticed that they look different depending on your operating system.
And since their appearance varies, you might struggle to use the correct password.
Inconvenience
Potential security issues aside, there’s also inconvenience.
If all you ever use is your smartphone, then maybe using emoji-based passwords wouldn’t be too inconvenient.
But have you ever tried sending an emoji to someone on your desktop?
If you have a Windows computer, for example, you have toenable emoji support through ViVeTool.
It definitely seems more convenient to just use the letters and numbers on your keyboard.
Exposure to Shoulder Surfing
Your smartphone’s keyboard probably displays the most recently used emojis right at the top.
Having this information readily availableexposes you to shoulder surfing.
What you need are letters, digits, and special characters.
Or rather, you gotta combine those three elements.
The strength of a password, orpassword entropyas it’s called, can be measured.
The more complex a password is, the more difficult it is to crack.
The problem with complex passwords is that they can be difficult to remember.
This is why you shoulduse a password manager, specialized software designed to store and manage passwords.
Password managers are easy to use, and many of them have free versions available.
Another mechanism you should consider is two-factor authentication.
But they are not ideal as passwords, at least not yet.
There are better, safer, and more convenient ways to secure your accounts.
