Plane Emoji React

2018Platform glitch / accidental featuredead

Also known as: Plane React

Plane Emoji React is the July 2018 Facebook glitch that briefly offered a plane emoji as a reaction option on Android, spurring Twitter memes after its quick removal.

Plane Emoji React was a plane emoji that briefly appeared as a Facebook reaction option on July 31, 2018, confusing and delighting users who stumbled across it. The accidental feature, which slipped out from an internal employee hackathon, was available primarily on Android devices before Facebook quickly removed it. The incident sparked a wave of jokes on Twitter and calls to bring it back, making it a memorable example of a tech glitch turning into an overnight meme.

TL;DR

Plane Emoji React was a plane emoji that briefly appeared as a Facebook reaction option on July 31, 2018, confusing and delighting users who stumbled across it.

Overview

Plane Emoji React refers to a small airplane emoji that temporarily appeared alongside Facebook's standard reaction options (Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry). For a brief window on July 31, 2018, certain users could react to posts and comments with a plane icon instead of the usual emotional responses1. Nobody knew what emotion a plane was supposed to convey, which made the whole thing funnier. The randomness of it, a tiny aircraft sitting next to a row of expressive faces, turned a software bug into a viral moment.

On July 31, 2018, eagle-eyed Facebook users noticed something strange in their reaction bar1. Alongside the familiar Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry options, a plane emoji had appeared. The feature was primarily accessible on Android devices running the latest version of the Facebook app2. To trigger it, users had to update their app, clear the cache in their phone settings, and then look for a duplicate Angry reaction icon. Tapping the second Angry face would display a plane emoji as the reaction instead1.

Facebook confirmed the plane was never supposed to go live. A company representative told The Daily Dot: "This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn't cleared for takeoff"1. The pun-laden response only added to the humor of the situation. A Facebook spokesperson gave a nearly identical statement to Fast Company2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook (accidental release), Twitter (meme spread)
Creator
Unknown Facebook employee
Date
2018

On July 31, 2018, eagle-eyed Facebook users noticed something strange in their reaction bar. Alongside the familiar Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry options, a plane emoji had appeared. The feature was primarily accessible on Android devices running the latest version of the Facebook app. To trigger it, users had to update their app, clear the cache in their phone settings, and then look for a duplicate Angry reaction icon. Tapping the second Angry face would display a plane emoji as the reaction instead.

Facebook confirmed the plane was never supposed to go live. A company representative told The Daily Dot: "This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn't cleared for takeoff". The pun-laden response only added to the humor of the situation. A Facebook spokesperson gave a nearly identical statement to Fast Company.

How It Spread

The same day the plane appeared, internet news blog 8shit published instructions explaining how to enable the reaction on Facebook. On Reddit, user umotex12 posted to r/OutOfTheLoop asking "What's this Facebook plane reaction and how do I get it?". The post reflected widespread confusion among users who had spotted the icon but couldn't figure out what it meant or how to access it.

Heavy reported that some users were seeing not just the plane but also fire and flower emojis in their reaction bars, suggesting multiple hackathon experiments had leaked into the live app. The Daily Dot and Daily Mail both covered the story on July 31 and August 1, respectively.

Although only Android users could actually use the plane reaction, anyone on Facebook could see it when someone reacted with the plane on a post. This led to a wave of reactions on Twitter. Some users joked about Facebook's long-requested "dislike" button, pointing out that the company had somehow shipped a plane before a thumbs-down. Others posted screenshots showing the plane react on random posts, turning it into a game of reacting to as many things as possible before it disappeared.

One widely shared tweet read: "Only the Ascended are blessed with Facebook's plane react". Another user posted: "plane reacting to everything on Facebook" alongside a string of airplane emojis. When Facebook pulled the feature, users mourned it with posts like "The plane react from Facebook is gone" and the hashtag #AddPlaneReact.

How to Use This Meme

The Plane Emoji React was never an official feature, so there's no current way to use it. When it was briefly live, the process went like this:

1

Update the Facebook app to the latest version on Android

2

Go into your phone's settings and clear the Facebook app's cache

3

Open a post and hold the Like button to bring up the reaction options

4

Look for two Angry face icons instead of one

5

Tap the second Angry face, which would display as a plane emoji

Cultural Impact

The Plane Emoji React incident became a minor case study in how accidental tech releases can generate outsized attention. What was essentially a hackathon prototype that leaked into production became international news, covered by outlets including The Daily Dot, the Daily Mail, and Fast Company within 24 hours.

The event also highlighted the internet's appetite for absurdist humor. Users didn't need to understand what a plane reaction "meant." The fact that it existed at all, sitting incongruously next to emotions like Love and Sad, was the entire joke. Facebook's reaction feature had launched in 2016 as an expansion of the Like button, adding emotional range to user interactions. The plane emoji's brief cameo exposed how even small UI changes on a platform with billions of users can instantly become a cultural moment.

The hashtag #AddPlaneReact trended briefly on Twitter as users campaigned, mostly tongue-in-cheek, for Facebook to make the plane a permanent reaction.

Fun Facts

Facebook's official response included the pun "wasn't cleared for takeoff," which many outlets noted was funnier than anything the company's PR team usually produced.

The plane wasn't the only leaked reaction. Some users also spotted fire and flower emojis in their reaction bars during the same glitch.

Despite being available for less than a day, the plane reaction was visible to desktop users when someone on Android had already used it on a post.

The Daily Dot attempted to replicate the plane reaction on both desktop and the mobile app but was unable to trigger it.

According to Facebook's own data shared in 2017, the heart reaction accounted for over half of all reactions used that year. The plane's brief existence did not make the stats.

Frequently Asked Questions

PlaneEmojiReact

2018Platform glitch / accidental featuredead

Also known as: Plane React

Plane Emoji React is the July 2018 Facebook glitch that briefly offered a plane emoji as a reaction option on Android, spurring Twitter memes after its quick removal.

Plane Emoji React was a plane emoji that briefly appeared as a Facebook reaction option on July 31, 2018, confusing and delighting users who stumbled across it. The accidental feature, which slipped out from an internal employee hackathon, was available primarily on Android devices before Facebook quickly removed it. The incident sparked a wave of jokes on Twitter and calls to bring it back, making it a memorable example of a tech glitch turning into an overnight meme.

TL;DR

Plane Emoji React was a plane emoji that briefly appeared as a Facebook reaction option on July 31, 2018, confusing and delighting users who stumbled across it.

Overview

Plane Emoji React refers to a small airplane emoji that temporarily appeared alongside Facebook's standard reaction options (Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry). For a brief window on July 31, 2018, certain users could react to posts and comments with a plane icon instead of the usual emotional responses. Nobody knew what emotion a plane was supposed to convey, which made the whole thing funnier. The randomness of it, a tiny aircraft sitting next to a row of expressive faces, turned a software bug into a viral moment.

On July 31, 2018, eagle-eyed Facebook users noticed something strange in their reaction bar. Alongside the familiar Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry options, a plane emoji had appeared. The feature was primarily accessible on Android devices running the latest version of the Facebook app. To trigger it, users had to update their app, clear the cache in their phone settings, and then look for a duplicate Angry reaction icon. Tapping the second Angry face would display a plane emoji as the reaction instead.

Facebook confirmed the plane was never supposed to go live. A company representative told The Daily Dot: "This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn't cleared for takeoff". The pun-laden response only added to the humor of the situation. A Facebook spokesperson gave a nearly identical statement to Fast Company.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook (accidental release), Twitter (meme spread)
Creator
Unknown Facebook employee
Date
2018

On July 31, 2018, eagle-eyed Facebook users noticed something strange in their reaction bar. Alongside the familiar Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry options, a plane emoji had appeared. The feature was primarily accessible on Android devices running the latest version of the Facebook app. To trigger it, users had to update their app, clear the cache in their phone settings, and then look for a duplicate Angry reaction icon. Tapping the second Angry face would display a plane emoji as the reaction instead.

Facebook confirmed the plane was never supposed to go live. A company representative told The Daily Dot: "This was created as part of an employee hackathon and wasn't cleared for takeoff". The pun-laden response only added to the humor of the situation. A Facebook spokesperson gave a nearly identical statement to Fast Company.

How It Spread

The same day the plane appeared, internet news blog 8shit published instructions explaining how to enable the reaction on Facebook. On Reddit, user umotex12 posted to r/OutOfTheLoop asking "What's this Facebook plane reaction and how do I get it?". The post reflected widespread confusion among users who had spotted the icon but couldn't figure out what it meant or how to access it.

Heavy reported that some users were seeing not just the plane but also fire and flower emojis in their reaction bars, suggesting multiple hackathon experiments had leaked into the live app. The Daily Dot and Daily Mail both covered the story on July 31 and August 1, respectively.

Although only Android users could actually use the plane reaction, anyone on Facebook could see it when someone reacted with the plane on a post. This led to a wave of reactions on Twitter. Some users joked about Facebook's long-requested "dislike" button, pointing out that the company had somehow shipped a plane before a thumbs-down. Others posted screenshots showing the plane react on random posts, turning it into a game of reacting to as many things as possible before it disappeared.

One widely shared tweet read: "Only the Ascended are blessed with Facebook's plane react". Another user posted: "plane reacting to everything on Facebook" alongside a string of airplane emojis. When Facebook pulled the feature, users mourned it with posts like "The plane react from Facebook is gone" and the hashtag #AddPlaneReact.

How to Use This Meme

The Plane Emoji React was never an official feature, so there's no current way to use it. When it was briefly live, the process went like this:

1

Update the Facebook app to the latest version on Android

2

Go into your phone's settings and clear the Facebook app's cache

3

Open a post and hold the Like button to bring up the reaction options

4

Look for two Angry face icons instead of one

5

Tap the second Angry face, which would display as a plane emoji

Cultural Impact

The Plane Emoji React incident became a minor case study in how accidental tech releases can generate outsized attention. What was essentially a hackathon prototype that leaked into production became international news, covered by outlets including The Daily Dot, the Daily Mail, and Fast Company within 24 hours.

The event also highlighted the internet's appetite for absurdist humor. Users didn't need to understand what a plane reaction "meant." The fact that it existed at all, sitting incongruously next to emotions like Love and Sad, was the entire joke. Facebook's reaction feature had launched in 2016 as an expansion of the Like button, adding emotional range to user interactions. The plane emoji's brief cameo exposed how even small UI changes on a platform with billions of users can instantly become a cultural moment.

The hashtag #AddPlaneReact trended briefly on Twitter as users campaigned, mostly tongue-in-cheek, for Facebook to make the plane a permanent reaction.

Fun Facts

Facebook's official response included the pun "wasn't cleared for takeoff," which many outlets noted was funnier than anything the company's PR team usually produced.

The plane wasn't the only leaked reaction. Some users also spotted fire and flower emojis in their reaction bars during the same glitch.

Despite being available for less than a day, the plane reaction was visible to desktop users when someone on Android had already used it on a post.

The Daily Dot attempted to replicate the plane reaction on both desktop and the mobile app but was unable to trigger it.

According to Facebook's own data shared in 2017, the heart reaction accounted for over half of all reactions used that year. The plane's brief existence did not make the stats.

Frequently Asked Questions