What the Globe (Fn) Key Does on Mac and How to Change It

On every Mac keyboard made since late 2020, the bottom-left key wears two labels: fn and a globe 🌐. Held down, it still acts as the classic Fn modifier. Tapped on its own, it performs one configurable action — and Apple's default, opening the emoji picker, surprises a lot of people mid-sentence. Here's what the key can do and how to point it at something useful, or nothing at all.

Change the Globe key's action

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard.
2. Find the pop-up menu labelled Press 🌐 key to, near the top of the pane.
3. Pick one of the four options. The change applies instantly — no restart, no logout.

The path is identical on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia. To undo, return to the same menu and pick the previous option; the factory default is Show Emoji & Symbols.

What the four options mean

• Change Input Source — each tap cycles to your next keyboard layout or language. Only useful if you've added more than one input source; with a single layout it does nothing visible.
• Show Emoji & Symbols — opens the character picker at your cursor, same as pressing Ctrl+Cmd+Space. The default, and the one most accidental-popup complaints trace back to.
• Start Dictation (Press 🌐 Twice) — a double-tap turns on the microphone and starts dictating into whatever field has focus. A single tap does nothing, which makes this the least accident-prone of the active options.
• Do Nothing — the key stays a plain Fn modifier. Holding it still works for every Fn combination; tapping it alone is ignored.

Globe shortcuts that work regardless of this setting

Whatever you choose in that menu, the Globe key doubles as a system-wide modifier. These combinations are built into macOS 13 through 15:

• 🌐+E — open the emoji & symbols picker (handy if you set the tap action to something else).
• 🌐+F — toggle full screen for the front window.
• 🌐+H — hide windows and show the desktop; press again to bring them back.
• 🌐+C — open Control Center.
• 🌐+N — open Notification Center.
• 🌐+Q — start a Quick Note.
• 🌐+Delete — forward delete, and 🌐+arrow keys give you Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down.

So setting the tap action to Do Nothing costs you very little: emoji stays one chord away on 🌐+E or Ctrl+Cmd+Space.

Stop the accidental emoji popup

If the character palette keeps appearing while you type, you're grazing the Globe key on its default setting. Two fixes, in order of bluntness: switch the action to Start Dictation (Press 🌐 Twice), which requires a deliberate double-tap before anything happens, or set it to Do Nothing and end the interruptions entirely. Note that this menu controls the tap action only — it does not remap the key. If you want Fn to act as a different modifier altogether, that's a job for System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Modifier Keys, where Fn/Globe can be swapped with Control.

Don't see the option at all?

The Press 🌐 key to menu only appears when a keyboard with a Globe key is attached. Built-in keyboards on Apple silicon MacBooks and the 2020 Intel MacBook Air have one, as do current Magic Keyboards; older Apple keyboards and most third-party boards label the key plain fn and tap-detection isn't offered, so the menu stays hidden. Plug in a Globe-equipped keyboard and the setting shows up on its own. The setting is also per-Mac, not synced through iCloud — if you tame the emoji popup on your MacBook, remember to repeat the change on the desktop Mac at work. And if the function row is your annoyance rather than the Globe key — F1 dimming the screen when you wanted F1 in an app — that's the separate Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys switch under Keyboard Shortcuts → Function Keys.

While you're in Keyboard settings

The same pane hides the function-row switch that decides whether F1–F12 need Fn held down — the function keys guide walks through it, and it pairs naturally with picking your Globe key action.