diff --git a/app/build.gradle b/app/build.gradle
index 3a73110cf..2edfe4402 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle
+++ b/app/build.gradle
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ dependencies {
     implementation "org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.7"
     implementation "org.cyanogenmod:platform.sdk:6.0"
     implementation 'com.jaredrummler:colorpicker:1.1.0'
-    implementation 'com.github.wax911:android-emojify:0.1.7'
+    implementation 'com.github.wax911:android-emojify:1.9.2'
     implementation 'com.google.protobuf:protobuf-javalite:4.27.2'
     implementation 'com.android.volley:volley:1.2.1'
 
diff --git a/app/proguard-rules.pro b/app/proguard-rules.pro
index 6ff419080..c3c9f2208 100644
--- a/app/proguard-rules.pro
+++ b/app/proguard-rules.pro
@@ -64,12 +64,10 @@
 # Keep Nordic DFU library
 -keep class no.nordicsemi.android.dfu.** { *; }
 
-# Keep dependency android-emojify (io.wax911.emojify) uses
--keep class org.hamcrest.** { *; }
--dontwarn java.beans.BeanInfo
--dontwarn java.beans.IntrospectionException
--dontwarn java.beans.Introspector
--dontwarn java.beans.PropertyDescriptor
+# For android-emojify - we are not using moshi, so ignore these
+-dontwarn com.squareup.moshi.**
+-dontwarn kotlinx.serialization.**
+-dontwarn okio.**
 
 # Keep logback classes
 -keep class ch.qos.** { *; }
diff --git a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
index 82e08c474..5bf5266f1 100644
--- a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@
     <application
         android:name=".GBApplication"
         android:allowBackup="false"
+        android:supportsRtl="true"
         android:fullBackupContent="false"
         android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
         android:label="@string/app_name"
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/service/devices/banglejs/BangleJSDeviceSupport.java b/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/service/devices/banglejs/BangleJSDeviceSupport.java
index 71519b59e..2b3fe7815 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/service/devices/banglejs/BangleJSDeviceSupport.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/service/devices/banglejs/BangleJSDeviceSupport.java
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ import java.sql.Timestamp;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Calendar;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -95,9 +96,8 @@ import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants;
 import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory;
 
 import de.greenrobot.dao.query.QueryBuilder;
-import io.wax911.emojify.Emoji;
 import io.wax911.emojify.EmojiManager;
-import io.wax911.emojify.EmojiUtils;
+import io.wax911.emojify.parser.EmojiParserKt;
 import nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.BuildConfig;
 import nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.GBApplication;
 import nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.R;
@@ -1319,18 +1319,12 @@ public class BangleJSDeviceSupport extends AbstractBTLEDeviceSupport {
         return true;
     }
 
-    private String renderUnicodeWordPartAsImage(String word) {
+    private String renderUnicodeWordPartAsImage(final String word) {
         // check for emoji
-        boolean hasEmoji = false;
-        if (EmojiUtils.getAllEmojis() == null)
-            EmojiManager.initEmojiData(GBApplication.getContext());
-        for (Emoji emoji : EmojiUtils.getAllEmojis())
-            if (word.contains(emoji.getEmoji())) {
-                hasEmoji = true;
-                break;
-            }
+        final EmojiManager emojiManager = EmojiConverter.getEmojiManager(getContext());
+        final boolean hasEmoji = !EmojiParserKt.extractEmojis(emojiManager, word).isEmpty();
         // if we had emoji, ensure we create 3 bit color (not 1 bit B&W)
-        BangleJSBitmapStyle style = hasEmoji ? BangleJSBitmapStyle.RGB_3BPP_TRANSPARENT : BangleJSBitmapStyle.MONOCHROME_TRANSPARENT;
+        final BangleJSBitmapStyle style = hasEmoji ? BangleJSBitmapStyle.RGB_3BPP_TRANSPARENT : BangleJSBitmapStyle.MONOCHROME_TRANSPARENT;
         return "\0"+bitmapToEspruinoString(textToBitmap(word), style);
     }
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverter.java b/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverter.java
index d12312fa6..f5e83cf0d 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverter.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverter.java
@@ -19,11 +19,20 @@ package nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.util;
 
 import android.content.Context;
 
+import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
+import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
+
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.util.List;
+
 import io.wax911.emojify.EmojiManager;
-import io.wax911.emojify.EmojiUtils;
+import io.wax911.emojify.contract.model.IEmoji;
+import io.wax911.emojify.parser.EmojiParserKt;
+import io.wax911.emojify.parser.candidate.UnicodeCandidate;
+import io.wax911.emojify.parser.transformer.EmojiTransformer;
+import io.wax911.emojify.serializer.gson.GsonDeserializer;
 
 public class EmojiConverter {
     private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(EmojiConverter.class);
@@ -65,7 +74,27 @@ public class EmojiConverter {
             {"\u2764", "<3"},         // heart
     };
 
-    private static boolean isEmojiDataInitialised = false;
+    private static EmojiManager emojiManagerInstance;
+
+    /**
+     * An emoji transformer that removes fitzpatrick modifiers. This partially reimplements
+     * EmojiParser.parseToAliases since I was unable to call it directly with FitzpatrickAction.REMOVE
+     */
+    private static final EmojiTransformer EMOJI_TRANSFORMER_NO_FITZPATRICK = new EmojiTransformer() {
+        @Nullable
+        @Override
+        public String invoke(@NonNull final UnicodeCandidate unicodeCandidate) {
+            final IEmoji emoji = unicodeCandidate.getEmoji();
+            if (emoji == null) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            final List<String> aliases = emoji.getAliases();
+            if (aliases == null || aliases.isEmpty()) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            return String.format(":%s:", aliases.get(0));
+        }
+    };
 
     private static String convertSimpleEmojiToAscii(String text) {
         for (String[] emojiMap : simpleEmojiMapping) {
@@ -74,25 +103,25 @@ public class EmojiConverter {
         return text;
     }
 
-    private static synchronized void initEmojiData(Context context) {
+    public static synchronized EmojiManager getEmojiManager(final Context context) {
         // Do a lazy initialisation not to slowdown the startup and when it is needed
-        if (!isEmojiDataInitialised) {
-            EmojiManager.initEmojiData(context);
-            isEmojiDataInitialised = true;
+        if (emojiManagerInstance == null) {
+            emojiManagerInstance = EmojiManager.Companion.create(context, new GsonDeserializer());
         }
+        return emojiManagerInstance;
     }
 
-    private static String convertAdvancedEmojiToAscii(String text, Context context) {
-        initEmojiData(context);
+    private static String convertAdvancedEmojiToAscii(final String text, final Context context) {
+        final EmojiManager emojiManager = getEmojiManager(context);
         try {
-            return EmojiUtils.shortCodify(text);
-        } catch (Exception e){
-            LOG.warn("An exception occured when converting advanced emoji to ASCII: " + text);
+            return EmojiParserKt.parseFromUnicode(emojiManager, text, EMOJI_TRANSFORMER_NO_FITZPATRICK);
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            LOG.warn("An exception occurred when converting advanced emoji to ASCII: {}", text);
             return text;
         }
     }
 
-    public static String convertUnicodeEmojiToAscii(String text, Context context) {
+    public static String convertUnicodeEmojiToAscii(String text, final Context context) {
         text = convertSimpleEmojiToAscii(text);
 
         text = convertAdvancedEmojiToAscii(text, context);
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverterTest.java b/app/src/test/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e07e435c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/test/java/nodomain/freeyourgadget/gadgetbridge/util/EmojiConverterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.util;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.robolectric.RuntimeEnvironment;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge.test.TestBase;
+
+public class EmojiConverterTest extends TestBase {
+    @Test
+    public void testConvert() {
+        final Map<String, String> snippets = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
+            put(
+                    "no emoji",
+                    "no emoji"
+            );
+
+            put(
+                    "Hello! \uD83D\uDE0A",
+                    "Hello! :-)"
+            );
+
+            put(
+                    "\uD83D\uDE1B hi",
+                    ":-P hi"
+            );
+
+            put(
+                    "\uD83D\uDC7B\uD83D\uDC80",
+                    ":ghost::skull:"
+            );
+
+            put(
+                    "also \uD83D\uDE36 with words \uD83D\uDCAA\uD83C\uDFFC in-between \uD83D\uDE09",
+                    "also :no_mouth: with words :muscle: in-between ;-)"
+            );
+        }};
+
+        for (final Map.Entry<String, String> e : snippets.entrySet()) {
+            assertEquals(
+                    e.getValue(),
+                    EmojiConverter.convertUnicodeEmojiToAscii(
+                            e.getKey(),
+                            RuntimeEnvironment.getApplication()
+                    )
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}