This study investigates individual differences in emoji comprehension, focusing on gender, age, and culture. A sample of 523 participants from the UK and China completed an emoji classification task, where they had to identify the emotion represented by each emoji from six categories (happy, sad, angry, surprised, fearful, disgusted). The results show that all three factors (gender, age, and culture) significantly impact how participants classified emojis. Specifically, women showed higher accuracy in recognizing happy, fearful, sad, and angry emojis, while older participants were less accurate in recognizing surprise, fearful, sad, and angry emojis. UK participants had higher accuracy in recognizing all emotions except disgust, which was partially mediated by familiarity. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences when using emojis in online communication, especially when interacting with partners from different cultures or ages.This study investigates individual differences in emoji comprehension, focusing on gender, age, and culture. A sample of 523 participants from the UK and China completed an emoji classification task, where they had to identify the emotion represented by each emoji from six categories (happy, sad, angry, surprised, fearful, disgusted). The results show that all three factors (gender, age, and culture) significantly impact how participants classified emojis. Specifically, women showed higher accuracy in recognizing happy, fearful, sad, and angry emojis, while older participants were less accurate in recognizing surprise, fearful, sad, and angry emojis. UK participants had higher accuracy in recognizing all emotions except disgust, which was partially mediated by familiarity. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences when using emojis in online communication, especially when interacting with partners from different cultures or ages.