What does OBJ mean on Facebook and other social media?‍

If you frequently use the Facebook application or social media, such as Snapchat, you may have noticed a dashed box with the capital letters OBJ inside and wonder what it is. Many users typically call this symbol an emoji, slang, or glitch, but it's different from these three.

An OBJ error can occur in posts you send yourself, friends' posts on your wall or timeline, and while sending messages. Understanding this symbol is necessary to remove it and improve your experience with texting apps, social media and the internet.

TLDR

Follow one or all of these ideas to remove an OBJ error from your Facebook post, your texts and other social media:

1. Update your social media apps

2. Update your device's operating system (OS)

3. Update your browser

4. Use a different keypad

What is the meaning of the OBJ emoji

OBJ is not an emoji but a Unicode object replacement character. An object replacement character typically represents an embedded object in a document when converted to plain text. That means the OBJ symbol represents a particular object, character, text or symbol that a system cannot show.

For example, Facebook typically contains different emojis and has an extensive character library. If you use an emoji from your keyboard that the app doesn't recognize, rather than display blank or any other error, it shows the dashed box with the capital letters OBJ. This means the term OBJ stands for object.

What causes OBJ emoji?

Here are the various reasons you may see OBJ on your phone:

Unrecognized character

An OBJ symbol commonly occurs when Unicode doesn't recognize an object. Unicode is short for Universal code, and it's a standard that provides a unique code for every character or object used on computer systems.

While Unicode is virtually universal across all systems, devices and platforms, it still has gaps, particularly with frequently updated emoji keyboards. When Unicode doesn't recognize an object or character, it returns the object replacement character, OBJ.

Corrupted data

When you transfer documents, the data may become corrupted as the file moves from the sender to the receiver. When the document arrives on the receiver's screen, the system may be unable to read some or all of it. The screen then displays these unreadable symbols as object replacement characters.

Software bug

If you post on any social media with an Android device and notice the OBJ symbol, then there may be a software bug. For example, when you type complex words and letters on search suggestions that the software doesn't identify.

On Instagram and Facebook posts, where hashtags and captions typically accompany images and videos, OBJ errors are common when the software discovers unidentified characters.

A glitch in iPhone's voice-to-text function

OBJ errors may also occur due to a glitch in a smartphone's voice-to-text function, though this is specific to only IOS users.

iOS devices use a speech recognizer or an Apple translator that turns bites of speech into objects before changing them to texts. This tool may often be incompatible with other software, which may see the speech objects but not know the letter they represent. This, in turn, results in an OBJ placeholder.

Outdated emoji library

Unlike other operating systems, Apple frequently updates its emoji library by adding new emojis and symbols not yet available on other software and devices, such as Android phones. When you send a message from your apple device to this other device or even outdated apple devices, they may not have these characters' equivalents. This may cause them to return OBJ boxes.

How can you remove OBJ from your device or applications

You may perform any of these different actions to remove OBJ on Facebook and your device generally:

Update Facebook or other social media applications

One effective way to stop an OBJ box from appearing on an application is by updating it. App developers typically update their character and emoji libraries to include new emojis, emoticons and symbols. If OBJ appears only in one application, consider visiting the device's store to check for updates and install the latest version if available.

Update your device's os

Smartphone and computer developers also update these devices' operating systems and send them out to users. If the software your system runs on is now outdated, consider visiting its settings and checking for system updates. Then download and install any available updates and test whether the OBJ error is resolved by typing and sending the emojis and symbols previously showing it.

Update your browser

If you notice an OBJ error while using a browser rather than on Facebook posts or other social media, it may also help to update that browser. This updates font libraries and removes all corrupted data from surfing the internet.

You may turn on notifications for updates on your devices to be aware and update them immediately an update becomes available.

Use a different keypad

After addressing all the possible reasons and object replacement character continues to appear, you may consider using another keypad or keyboard application.

There are generally many advanced keyboards offering a variety of character sets and also in sync with the factory-updated emoji library. Changing your keyboard to one of these may help remove the dotted box.

Frequently asked questions about OBJ emoji

You may find answers to frequently asked questions about the OBJ box below:

Does OBJ error occur in texting apps?

An object replacement character isn't exclusive to Facebook and social media alone and can also occur when you're using text editors and texting apps. These also happen due to unrecognized characters, letters and corrupted texts. You can typically solve them by updating the texting application, upgrading the device's os and using a different keypad

What do empty squares mean in a text?

A blank square box or an empty square in a text is typically an emoji that a user sends to you that your phone doesn't support.

Emojis are becoming popular for conveying emotions, and they're often tiny little pictures that are easy to interpret. Due to their popularity, emoji library frequently receives updates, which may differ between devices.

For example, Apple devices typically contain a diverse character set than Android phones. Due to this, when you send a text from iOS to an Android phone and see one or many empty squares, this is a special character replacing the otherwise unspecified object.

What is Unicode?

Unicode is the universal code of character sets. It enables computers to understand the characters and objects they see and helps them perform the required actions.

Unicode takes each symbol, whether it's a text, an emoji or a symbol and assigns a unique number to it. It then keeps the number uniform and consistent across various devices so that you can easily transport data between different devices, platforms and applications.

For example, Unicode enables you to send messages from personal computers to smartphones despite the differences in their OS and software configurations. It ensures that your text, containing letters and other characters, is what your recipient gets.

All modern major software providers adopt Unicode, but new symbols, emojis and characters are regularly created. OBJ works as a text placeholder on Unicode for any new symbol that the standard doesn't recognize.

What does the OBJ file contain?

The OBJ file format is a three-dimensional (3D) image containing a dotted box with the letters, OBJ, written in it in capital letters. You can typically export and open it using various 3D graphic editing software.

OBJ files generally contain a geometry of 3D objects, can support unlimited colours, and one file may define multiple objects.

3D images or models typically consist of polygon parts connecting with other polygons. This may result in OBJ when used on outdated software or in the presence of software bugs.

Does OBJ error affect Facebook accounts?

OBJ only means your Facebook app doesn't recognize a particular character, character set or symbol and doesn't affect the app. Minimizing the number of times OBJ appears can give you a positive experience using Facebook and connecting with your friends. Removing OBJ from your Facebook post helps you understand your friends' actual expressions, enabling you to respond appropriately.

How do you update your iOS?

iPhone users can follow these steps to update their OS

1. Go to Settings, tap General and click Software Update.

2. Scroll down and tap Download and Install to install available updates, or click Automatic Updates and turn on Download iOS Updates.

3. Turn on Install iOS updates, and your device should automatically update to the latest iOS version.

   
   
   

How do you update Android?

On Android, you may follow these steps:

1. Open your phone's settings app.

2. Scroll down, tap System and click on System Update.

3. View your update status and follow the steps that show on the screen.