diff --git a/native/components/emoji-keyboard.react.js b/native/components/emoji-keyboard.react.js
index 31266cd5ea..88a624ec5a 100644
--- a/native/components/emoji-keyboard.react.js
+++ b/native/components/emoji-keyboard.react.js
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 // @flow
 
+import AsyncStorage from '@react-native-async-storage/async-storage';
 import * as React from 'react';
-import EmojiPicker from 'rn-emoji-keyboard';
+import EmojiPicker, { useRecentPicksPersistence } from 'rn-emoji-keyboard';
+
+const STORAGE_KEY = 'EMOJI_KEYBOARD_RECENT';
 
 const categoryOrder = [
   'recently_used',
@@ -17,6 +20,23 @@ const categoryOrder = [
   'search',
 ];
 
+const initializationCallback = async () => {
+  const recentlyUsedEmojis = await AsyncStorage.getItem(STORAGE_KEY);
+  return JSON.parse(recentlyUsedEmojis ?? '[]');
+};
+
+const onStateChangeCallback = async nextRecentlyUsedEmojis => {
+  await AsyncStorage.setItem(
+    STORAGE_KEY,
+    JSON.stringify(nextRecentlyUsedEmojis),
+  );
+};
+
+const useRecentPicksPersistenceArgs = {
+  initialization: initializationCallback,
+  onStateChange: onStateChangeCallback,
+};
+
 export type EmojiSelection = {
   +emoji: string,
   +name: string,
@@ -35,6 +55,8 @@ type Props = {
 function EmojiKeyboard(props: Props): React.Node {
   const { onEmojiSelected, emojiKeyboardOpen, onEmojiKeyboardClose } = props;
 
+  useRecentPicksPersistence(useRecentPicksPersistenceArgs);
+
   return (
     <EmojiPicker
       onEmojiSelected={onEmojiSelected}