Seeking to win a scholarship offered by global computing corporation Public, programming genius Audrey McCarthy writes a matchmaking app but discovers her results may be skewed by a program Public is secretly using to influence teens.

In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression, except for Gene, who is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become normal, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 and Jailbreak. Together, these unlikely heroes embark on an epic app-venture through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the code that will fix Gene!