Twitch's extensive catalog of emotes is one of the most recognizable things about the site. In addition to the basic, free Twitch emotes, you also have custom ones that you'll only find on Twitch.
While Twitch's native emotes are often more than enough for most people to express themselves with, it's fun to have even more Twitch emotes in your arsenal. So here's how to get more emotes on Twitch.
What's So Great About Twitch Emotes?
Before we get started, if you're not familiar with them here's what you need to know about Twitch emotes. Unlike other sites, Twitch feature a mix of real and drawn reaction faces in its emotes.
These emotes made Josh DeSeno, an employee of the now-defunct Justin.tv (which became Twitch), one of the most recognizable faces in the world. DeSeno has become the model for the ubiquitous Kappa emote.
One of the first things you learn on Twitch is the language of its emotes. Before you know it, "PogChamp" becomes shorthand for "excited," and the omnipresent "Kappa" face punctuates your dry sarcasm. These emotes go a long way towards creating a sense of community.
1. Subscribe to Twitch Channels
The most popular Twitch channels can apply for a partnership, which adds the option of a paid subscription to their channel. One of the benefits that partnered channels give paid subscribers is access to a series of emotes. If you want to know how to pay for a channel subscription, read our guide to buying Twitch subscriptions.
There are several emote tiers---the more subscribers a channel has, the more emotes it can have. The lowest tier (no subscribers) can have up to six emotes.
Meanwhile, the highest tier (10,000 subscribers and above) can have up to 60 emotes. Depending on how popular the streamer in question is, you might get a very large number of emotes for a relatively small price.
If you're willing to spend extra money for better emotes, you might want to consider subscribing to a channel just for the emotes. You can use these emotes in every other channel on Twitch as often as you like.
TwitchEmotes offers an extensive database if you want to see channels by its emotes. However, we recommend exploring the channels and finding a streamer you really like!
2. Use FrankerFaceZ
Not every streamer is partnered with Twitch, so only a small percentage of them offer tons of custom emotes to their viewers. Luckily, intrepid streamers have found ways to maximize their collection. One of the ways they have done so is with FrankerFaceZ (FFZ), a Twitch emote extension for your browser.
FFZ is a Twitch extension with multiple uses. The main one is the extensive catalog of emotes that it offers. There are over 200,000 publicly-visible emotes in the FFZ library. Streamers can submit their own emotes to the FFZ library, though they have to get approved by FFZ first.
FFZ also allows for clickable links in stream titles and even lets you create tabbed chats. It's worth considering installing FFZ not just for the emotes, but for the special features it adds to the Twitch experience.
Download: FrankerFaceZ for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Pale Moon, User Script, Opera (Free)
3. Install BetterTwitchTV
The BetterTwitchTV (BTTV) browser extension is absolutely invaluable in getting the best Twitch experience possible. Several of its features have been incorporated into Twitch officially. In fact, longtime users will have trouble figuring out where the native Twitch features end and the BTTV features begin.
BBTV replaces the base Twitch emote menu with a more extensive one. It features all of the global emotes that BTTV offers, as well as the full collection of your subscriber emotes.
Not to mention that BBTV enhances the Twitch experience with additional features. When you access your chat settings in Twitch, you can also change up your BBTV settings. This means you can turn on the option to use animated emotes, enable automatic theater mode, blacklist words, and much more.
Download: BetterTwitchTV for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari (Free)
4. Participate in a Hype Train
In January 2020, Twitch introduced the Hype Train. If you're a regular Twitch user, you know it as the chaotic activity that occurs when a streamer receives an increased number of donations and subscribers.
After it's triggered, other users in the chat can keep donating Bits and subscribing to fill the Hype-o-Meter. As the meter goes up, the Hype Train reaches higher levels. Every participant in the Hype Train gets rewarded with a random emote found in the last level the Hype Train reaches.
The Hype Train emotes refresh often, and Twitch ensures you'll never get a duplicate. Participating in the Hype Train isn't free, but paying into it can get you some awesome emotes.
5. Earn Channel Points
Twitch's Channel Points feature is another easy way to earn more Twitch emotes. You can get rewarded with Channel Points simply by watching a stream. Just keep in mind that you'll only earn Channel Points from streamers partnered or affiliated with Twitch.
You can get even more points by watching a stream for several days in a row, following a streamer, and participating in raids. Plus, if you're subscribed to the channel, you'll earn additional points for watching.
To check how many Channel Points you have, look at the purple icon in the bottom-left of the chat menu. Once you earn enough Channel Points, you can redeem them for rewards, and that usually includes emotes.
6. Get Global Twitch Emotes
Do you know how to get Twitch emotes outside of Twitch? Luckily, there's a browser extension for that too.
With Global Twitch Emotes, any text that's the same as specific Twitch emotes (like PogChamp) gets replaced with the emotes themselves. It also lets you use Twitch emotes from FFZ and BTTV. It's perfect for interacting with communities filled with your fellow Twitch streamers and viewers.
More emotes on Twitch is always a good thing, but it's fun to use them on other websites too. There are a number of communities built around streamers on other sites, with Reddit and Discord, in particular, being havens for Twitch viewers. There are also a number of Twitch-savvy gamers on the big gaming forums.
Global Twitch Emotes is available as an extension for Chrome and Opera, and should work with all text. Since there are very few words that look quite the same as Twitch emotes, you shouldn't have a problem with the program interfering with your ordinary online reading.
Download: Global Twitch Emotes for Chrome | Opera (Free)
7. Use Twitch Emotes on Discord
If you're a Discord user who wants to see Twitch emotes, you should try installing BetterDiscord, a program that enables all of Twitch's native emotes, FFZ emotes, and BTTV emotes.
It also offers a number of other features for customizing Discord to your liking. Installing BetterDiscord is just one of the tricks all Discord users should know.
As for subscriber emotes, the streamer themselves has to enable theirs for use with their Discord server before you can use them. If you want to use your favorite streamers' emotes, tell them to get on Discord along with everyone else!
Download: BetterDiscord for Windows and macOS
Free Twitch Emotes Make Twitch More Fun
Learning how to get more emotes on Twitch definitely comes in handy.
Whether you decide to get free Twitch emotes from a browser extension, or opt to get custom emotes by subscribing to Twitch channels, they'll enable you to enjoy a much better Twitch experience. Contributing unique emotes to Twitch chats and gaming forums makes talking with other gamers much more fun too.
If you're looking for alternatives to Twitch, check out our article pitting Twitch vs. Mixer vs. YouTube Live.