It might be a bit early to call, but 2016 is already looking like the year of the emoji. Facebook recently released Reactions, letting users respond to posts with a variety of new emojis.

Now Google Photos is getting in on the game, letting you search for photos via the cute little critters.

Oh Snap

Google Photos on web or mobile now lets you paste an emoji into the search bar to generate relevant results.

For example, the ice-cream emoji will scan your pics for ice-cream related images. The same goes for terms including smiling faces, cars, animals, etc.

Mixed message

We found the results mixed, but it can be a good way to surface old pics you haven't dusted off in awhile.

And of course Google Photos still allows you to search via terms such as "sunrise" and "beach".

To find out more check out this video on the update.