Report updated May 22, 2026
Smileys
For iOS users looking to add visual expressions to their iMessage conversations.
Smileys is an established stickers app that is completely free. With a 4.2/5 rating from 693 reviews, it shows polarized user reception.
What is Smileys?
Smileys is an iMessage sticker pack for iOS that allows users to place animated emojis on images and chat bubbles.
Users hire this app for low-friction visual expression within Apple's native messaging interface, removing the need for third-party keyboard permissions.
Current Momentum
v1.0 · 117mo ago
Zombie- No feature updates since 2016.
- Maintains stable legacy user base.
Active Nemesis
Dual Messenger Web Plus
By Saltanat Yegimbayeva
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
StickersNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Sticker pack containing animated smiley emojis for use in messaging conversations
Allows users to peel and place stickers over bubbles, images, or other stickers within the message interface
How much does it cost?
- Free
The app is distributed as a free utility with no observable in-app purchases or subscription gates.
Who Built It?
Jatisari Inovasi Studio
Providing essential system utilities and productivity tools for the Apple ecosystem. Streamlining daily workflows through deep OS-level integration.
Portfolio
13
Apps
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Explore the full Jatisari Inovasi Studio report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Jatisari Inovasi Studio.
What do users think recently?
Analysis in progress, available soon
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Smileys?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (12)
How's The Stickers Market?
Smileys operates as a free utility within the iMessage sticker category. Its positioning relies on native integration, avoiding the privacy and data-permission barriers inherent in third-party messaging apps.
Which niche is Smileys in?
to enhance digital conversations with animated stickers
Explore the full Messaging Companions niche
Every app in this space — 2 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
This app competes by offering a comprehensive communication suite that dwarfs the target's simple sticker functionality, capturing users looking for utility-heavy messaging tools.
Differentiators
- Integrates advanced AI chatbots and content suites that provide utility far beyond simple sticker packs.
- Maintains a massive user base and high update frequency, creating a strong network effect moat.
- Offers multi-platform media library management which creates significant switching costs for power users.
Head to head
The target should focus on deep-linking and exclusive Apple-native features to maintain its niche, as it cannot compete with the nemesis on feature breadth.
Same space(4)
WINK Now overlaps by providing animated emoji assets within a messaging context, directly challenging the target's core sticker functionality.
Differentiators
- Combines animated stickers with cloud messaging, positioning itself as a hybrid communication and media app.
- Utilizes email-based onboarding to capture user data, a strategy the target app currently lacks entirely.
This app competes in the sticker space by offering advanced, context-aware visual assets that go beyond static or simple animated emojis.
Differentiators
- Features AR-enabled FaceTime stickers that provide a more immersive, interactive experience than standard animated emojis.
- Offers system-wide keyboard integration, allowing users to access stickers across all apps, not just Messages.
This app targets the same social networking audience by focusing on messaging efficiency and utility features.
Differentiators
- Implements message scheduling and quick replies, solving common productivity pain points for heavy messaging users.
- Focuses on direct utility rather than visual expression, appealing to a more functional user demographic.
Kik competes for the same social messaging attention span, offering a full-featured platform where stickers are a secondary engagement layer.
Differentiators
- Leverages username-based identity to facilitate public group interactions, creating a social network effect.
- Maintains high engagement through live streaming features that keep users within the app ecosystem longer.
New entrants(2)
This newcomer disrupts the messaging space by prioritizing privacy and ephemeral communication, attracting users wary of traditional platforms.
Differentiators
- Uses ghost accounts and thread expiration to provide a privacy-first messaging experience for sensitive conversations.
Dart Connect enters the landscape by focusing on high-bandwidth communication features like unlimited file sharing and group topics.
Differentiators
- Supports unlimited file sharing and group-based voice messaging to facilitate collaborative team-style communication workflows.
Compare Smileys against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Smileys
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Native iMessage integration ensures zero-friction user experience
- Zero privacy concerns compared to third-party messaging utilities
Critical Frictions
- No feature updates since 2016
- Lack of system-wide keyboard support
Growth Levers
- Integrate AR-enabled assets to match modern sticker trends
- Implement system-wide keyboard access to increase utility
Market Threats
- AR-enabled sticker apps provide higher immersion
- Hybrid messaging apps capture more user data
What are the next best moves?
Ship AR-enabled sticker assets because competitors like Link Badges offer higher immersion → increase user engagement
Competitor analysis shows AR-enabled stickers are a key differentiator for modern sticker apps.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the maintenance of legacy static assets — they no longer drive new user acquisition.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's lack of updates is its primary moat, as it avoids the privacy-invasive data collection that modern, feature-heavy messaging competitors use to monetize.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- AR-enabled stickers (available in Link Badges but missing here)
- System-wide keyboard integration (available in Link Badges but missing here)
Key Takeaways
Smileys maintains a niche through native iMessage integration, but its lack of updates since 2016 makes it a legacy asset, so the team should pivot to an AR-enabled feature set or sunset the product to focus on higher-yield messaging tools.
Where Is It Heading?
Stable
The sticker market is consolidating around AR-enabled and system-wide keyboard utilities. Smileys remains stable due to its native iMessage integration, but it will lose relevance as users migrate to apps that offer more interactive and cross-app functionality.
The app has remained in maintenance mode since 2016, which prevents feature erosion but limits growth against active, AR-enabled competitors.