I attach some screenshot, hopefully they help.

I'm having the same issue. The emoji that do appear are the same ones shown in Penaz91's screenshots. The issue started on or before 2019-03-13.

Android OS version:
Android 4.4.2

Device manufacturer and model:
Samsung Galaxy S3

List of installed add-ons (like languages, or themes):
French
One-Handed Dvorak (from an apk I found on a forum somewhere)

I am having the same issue.

OS: Android 5.0
Device: BQ Aquaris E5

@ALL the users having this issue:
downgrade to 1.9.2629
it works as it should work, and on top of that, as it worked before the update to 1.10.364 .... (what a miracle)

@those-who-code
i am also on 4.4.2 and i hope you know what you have altered as 1.9.2629 works and 1.10.364 not!

@Penaz91
ty for the post here, who knows if one cares at all

@GoranGharib
1.9.2629 works
1.10.364 fails
now you...

I can confirm that downgrading to ASK version 1.9.2629 fixes the issue.

I'm not an android developer, but I heard google changed their emojis recently and put up a utility to port them to older android versions (API 19+) called "EmojiCompat" or something, here's the link: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/emoji-compat

Just putting it out there hoping to help.

Also thanks to @github-tomster for the suggestion to downgrade.

1.10.606 also still fails...

I have the exact same problem on Samsung galaxy s4, android 5.0.1. Version 1.10.606

After downgrade to 1.9.2629 emojis work again.

@whoevercares
one could say, all versions after 1.9.2629 fail, hence these issues here.
so maybe, if it is not possible to fix that, a BUG label can be added here?
or create a known issues point?

I have some free time next week. I'll take a stab at fixing it then.

I have the same issue: Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL, Android 5.0.2, AnySoftKeyboard v1.10-r2

The issue is aapt2. Until version 1.10 we used aapt version 1, but in order to support newer build-tools we moved to aapt2.
This is the commit that introduced aapt2: e977428#diff-503f218d646c10f484fdc9d6315bf2e3

One option would be to go back to aapt v1 release something that is stable and then stop supporting any device before api 24.. or so.
Another, is to go back to ask google to fix aapt2.

hmmmm. I may have found the issue. And it's not aapt's fault. I think I didn't convert the emoji-lists for devices prior to API21 correctly...

Verifying.

I've verified on an emulator that this fix works.
A BETA release will be available later today.