diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index 0ed3b47d3..dbc800654 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -410,6 +410,21 @@ pub fn init(
                     _ = try group.addFace(.bold_italic, .{ .deferred = face });
                 } else log.warn("font-family-bold-italic not found: {s}", .{family});
             }
+
+            // On macOS, always search for and add the Apple Emoji font
+            // as our preferred emoji font for fallback. We do this in case
+            // people add other emoji fonts to their system, we always want to
+            // prefer the official one. Users can override this by explicitly
+            // specifying a font-family for emoji.
+            if (comptime builtin.os.tag == .macos) {
+                var disco_it = try disco.discover(alloc, .{
+                    .family = "Apple Color Emoji",
+                });
+                defer disco_it.deinit();
+                if (try disco_it.next()) |face| {
+                    _ = try group.addFace(.regular, .{ .fallback_deferred = face });
+                }
+            }
         }
 
         // Our built-in font will be used as a backup