How to get the 4.2.2 Emoji keyboard on your Android device (Must be rooted)

Got hooked on Emoji in the new Hangouts app and want to use it in other apps too? This is how you can get it on your Android device.

When I got the Nexus 4, which I used for a few months, I discovered that it came with a stock Emoji keyboard. I already had Emoji in WhatsApp and I loved it. With the Emoji keyboard I was able to add those cute emoticons to other apps as well; like Google plus for example.

When I went back to my Galaxy Nexus I really missed it so I started looking into how to get it. 

I found the Zip file on this thread: http://androidforums.com/metropcs-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/705328-emoji-keyboard.html.

The link in the thread does not work anymore so I uploaded it to MediaFire and you can download it from here:Stock_Emoji_Keyboard_4.2.2

If you are on Android 4.2.2 and your phone/tablet is rooted, all you need to do is download the Zip file to your device, move it out of the Download folder to the root of your SD Card using Root Explorer (or your file manager of choice), wipe cache, flash it and reboot.

After rebooting, you will be able to choose the Emoji keyboard as an input method.

Note: I only tried this on my Galaxy Nexus with CM10.1. Please let me know in the comments if you had success with other devices/ROMs

Choose the Emoji input 

Now you can add Emoji to Gplus posts/comments