Better Likes vs Emoji Reactions in Twitter
Both extensions add a reaction layer where the platform doesn't have one. The
difference is in the details: who can see the reactions, who maintains the code,
and what the extension discloses about your data.
TL;DR
Per its Chrome Web Store card, Emoji Reactions in Twitter is a Chrome-only
extension whose reactions are "visible only to other users of the same extension". The store card also discloses handling of authentication information. Its last release dated on the public store card is
March 2022 — over four years before today.
Better Likes is GPL-3, runs on Chrome / Firefox / Edge, supports a growing list
of social, dev, and shopping sites, never asks for your Twitter or any other
platform's credentials, and uses a one-time email verification to make sure each
reaction count reflects a verified person rather than an anonymous install.
At a glance
| Better Likes | Emoji Reactions in Twitter |
| Sites covered | Facebook, GitHub, Amazon — and growing | Twitter / X only |
| Reactions visible to | All Better Likes users — aggregated public count | Only other users of the same extension |
| Source code | Public on GitHub, GPL-3
| Closed source. No public repository linked from the store card. |
| Privacy disclosure |
Salted email hash, no raw email persisted, salted IP hash for rate-limit
(policy)
|
Chrome Web Store card discloses handling of authentication information.
|
| Identity model | One verified email = one account | Not publicly documented |
| Last public release | Continuously released from GitHub | 2022-03-05 per the Chrome Web Store card |
| Browsers | Chrome, Firefox, Edge | Chrome only |
Where Better Likes is the better choice
1. Multi-platform from day one
Emoji Reactions in Twitter operates only on Twitter. If you also want
reactions on a Facebook post you saw earlier, a GitHub repo, or an Amazon
product, this extension simply has nothing for you. Better Likes covers all
three, with the same picker, same counts, and same history view across all of
them. Adding new sites (Reddit, Stack Overflow, Hacker News, an internal
company portal via the selectors config) is a small adapter, not a fork.
2. You can read the code
Emoji Reactions in Twitter is closed source — the Chrome Web Store card
doesn't link a public repository. That's not a crime, but it does mean you
trust the binary you install without an independent way to verify what it
does.
Better Likes is GPL-3. The extension, the Cloudflare Worker, the database
schema, the landing page — every line is on
GitHub. Security researchers can audit it; users can compile their own build;
nobody has to take our word for anything.
3. Verified counts, not visible-to-same-extension counts
Emoji Reactions in Twitter's reactions are only visible to other users of the
same extension. That's a design choice with real consequences: a viral tweet's
"real" reaction count is hidden behind extension adoption, and the same person
on three browsers will count three times.
Better Likes's counts are aggregated globally and gated on one-time email
verification. The count under a Facebook post in Better Likes means "this many
verified Better Likes users reacted with this emoji" — not "this many people
who happened to install the same browser plugin you did".
4. Actively maintained
Twitter/X has been through several major UI overhauls since March 2022 —
including a brand change. Any DOM-touching extension that hasn't been updated
since then is one Twitter release away from breaking. Better Likes's selectors
config is specifically designed to be hot-patchable from the server without
re-shipping, so when a target site changes markup we don't need a new store
release.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Better Likes if you want a multi-site, open-source, actively-maintained
reaction extension with a verified-accounts identity model and clearly documented
privacy posture.
We genuinely couldn't find a case where Emoji Reactions in Twitter would be the
better choice for a user today.
Sources
-
Emoji Reactions in Twitter Chrome Web Store —
listing. Last update date, "visible only to other users of the same extension"
wording, and the authentication-information disclosure are taken from that
public store card.
-
We're not affiliated with the extension or its author. We're comparing
publicly-disclosed properties, not making claims about internal code.