Learning how to add emotes to Twitch chat is essential if you’re a streamer trying to build an active Twitch community. Emotes are emoji-like images that Twitch users can create for quick and easy communicative use in their own livestreams and Twitch chats.
As a streamer, you can add a distinct personal touch to your channel by creating emotes from images to capture facial expressions, display emotions that aren’t easily conveyed with the written word, as well as communicate inside jokes that add a humorous element to your community.
In this article, we’re going to reveal the entire process to add emotes for your Twitch channel. We will discuss how this can be done from your Creator Dashboard, which is the interface where you can manage your live stream, organise your content, edit safety preferences, or access resources to help you improve your stream. It’s important to note that only Twitch Affiliates or Partners have the ability to create and add emotes, so you should level up to either of the aforementioned statuses first.
Should you want to explore more Twitch-related tutorial style content, read through our detailed guide explaining how to ban users in Twitch chat. Alternatively, if you’ve been encountering problems with Twitch not working on mobile devices, you can read our article that provides a step-by-step process for fixing the Twitch mobile app.
How to add emotes to Twitch chat
If your creator account is enabled to add emotes on Twitch, then all you have to do is follow these instructions:
Locate the Creator Dashboard
Click on your user avatar, which is located in the upper right corner of the Twitch website. Once you’ve done that, a dropdown menu listing multiple account options should appear. Select the ‘Creator Dashboard’ link, which should then redirect your browser to your personal dashboard page.
Select Viewer Rewards
The next step is to find the ‘Viewer Rewards’ sub-section within your Creator Dashboard page. You can find it on the left-hand side of your screen, under the Creator Dashboard menu.
Click the Emotes option under the Viewer Rewards section
This part is pretty self-explanatory. Once you’ve found the Viewer Rewards section, you’ll see a little downward-facing arrow beside it, which indicates that there are further selection options available. Once you click on Viewer Rewards, the clickable Emotes option should appear in a further dropdown on your screen.
Click the + sign under Tier 1 and upload an icon
Once you’ve opened the Subscriber Emotes interface, you need to click on the ‘+’ symbol which is shown under the Tier 1 category. This allows you to upload an icon by selecting a file from your computer. Once you select the file you want to use as your emote, click the ‘Open’ button on the sub-window and wait for Twitch to process the image.
Type a code for the emote
Once you’re happy with the image file you’ve uploaded, you should type a code for it in the emote code field shown on the page. For example, if you’re adding an emote for a soccer ball, you could use the word ‘soccer’ as the emote code. When you’ve done that, finish the process by clicking the purple ‘Upload’ button down below. Once uploaded, your emote will be added to the slot and saved to your Library so that it can be used later in Twitch chat.
If you’re adding more than one emote, all you have to do is repeat the process outlined above. Once you’ve completed this task, you’ll have a channel that stands out from the rest with lively emotes that catch your audience’s attention.