diff --git a/strbuf_helpers.c b/strbuf_helpers.c
index 3e2373c7..0fa7f00f 100644
--- a/strbuf_helpers.c
+++ b/strbuf_helpers.c
@@ -715,7 +715,10 @@ static void _json_char(strbuf sb, uint32_t c)
     strbuf_puts(sb, "\\r");
   else if (c == '\t')
     strbuf_puts(sb, "\\t");
-  else if (c>0x7f || iscntrl(c))
+  else if (c>=0x10000){
+    c-=0x10000;
+    strbuf_sprintf(sb, "\\u%04X\\u%04X", 0xD800 + ((c>>10) & 0x3FF), 0xDC00 + (c & 0x3FF));
+  }else if (c>0x7f || iscntrl(c))
     strbuf_sprintf(sb, "\\u%04X", c);
   else
     strbuf_putc(sb, c);
diff --git a/tests/meshmsrestful b/tests/meshmsrestful
index 02f37b45..0a4287ef 100755
--- a/tests/meshmsrestful
+++ b/tests/meshmsrestful
@@ -776,4 +776,34 @@ test_sendFlood() {
    tfw_cat http.headers conversationlist.json
 }
 
+doc_unicode="Send and receive unicode emoticons"
+setup_unicode() {
+   IDENTITY_COUNT=2
+   setup
+}
+test_unicode() {
+   SMILEY1=`echo -e "\xf0\x9f\x98\x80\x0a"`
+   SMILEY2=`echo -e "\xf0\x9f\x98\x90\x0a"`
+   executeOk_servald meshms send message $SIDA1 $SIDA2 "$SMILEY1"
+   executeOk curl \
+         --silent --fail --show-error \
+         --output sendmessage.json \
+         --basic --user harry:potter \
+         --form "message=$SMILEY2;type=text/plain;charset=utf-8" \
+         "http://$addr_localhost:$PORTA/restful/meshms/$SIDA2/$SIDA1/sendmessage"
+   executeOk curl \
+         --silent --fail --show-error \
+         --output messagelist.json \
+         --dump-header http.headers \
+         --basic --user harry:potter \
+         "http://$addr_localhost:$PORTA/restful/meshms/$SIDA1/$SIDA2/messagelist.json"
+   tfw_cat messagelist.json
+   assertGrep --matches=1 messagelist.json '\\uD83D\\uDE10'
+   assertGrep --matches=1 messagelist.json '\\uD83D\\uDE00'
+   executeOk_servald meshms list messages $SIDA1 $SIDA2
+   tfw_cat --stdout
+   assertStdoutGrep --matches=1 "$SMILEY1"
+   assertStdoutGrep --matches=1 "$SMILEY2"
+}
+
 runTests "$@"