diff --git a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.test.ts b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.test.ts
index 3c96cbfb5..af7ff75a0 100644
--- a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.test.ts
+++ b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.test.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   stringToEmojiState,
   tokenizeText,
 } from './render';
+import type { EmojiStateCustom } from './types';
 
 describe('tokenizeText', () => {
   test('returns an array of text to be a single token', () => {
@@ -82,12 +83,8 @@ describe('stringToEmojiState', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  test('returns custom emoji state for valid custom emoji', () => {
-    expect(stringToEmojiState(':smile:')).toEqual({
-      type: 'custom',
-      code: 'smile',
-      data: undefined,
-    });
+  test('returns null for custom emoji without data', () => {
+    expect(stringToEmojiState(':smile:')).toBeNull();
   });
 
   test('returns custom emoji state with data when provided', () => {
@@ -107,7 +104,6 @@ describe('stringToEmojiState', () => {
 
   test('returns null for invalid emoji strings', () => {
     expect(stringToEmojiState('notanemoji')).toBeNull();
-    expect(stringToEmojiState(':invalid-emoji:')).toBeNull();
   });
 });
 
@@ -130,18 +126,13 @@ describe('loadEmojiDataToState', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  test('loads custom emoji data into state', async () => {
-    const dbCall = vi
-      .spyOn(db, 'loadCustomEmojiByShortcode')
-      .mockResolvedValueOnce(customEmojiFactory());
-    const customState = { type: 'custom', code: 'smile' } as const;
-    const result = await loadEmojiDataToState(customState, 'en');
-    expect(dbCall).toHaveBeenCalledWith('smile');
-    expect(result).toEqual({
+  test('returns null for custom emoji without data', async () => {
+    const customState = {
       type: 'custom',
       code: 'smile',
-      data: customEmojiFactory(),
-    });
+    } as const satisfies EmojiStateCustom;
+    const result = await loadEmojiDataToState(customState, 'en');
+    expect(result).toBeNull();
   });
 
   test('returns null if unicode emoji not found in database', async () => {
@@ -151,13 +142,6 @@ describe('loadEmojiDataToState', () => {
     expect(result).toBeNull();
   });
 
-  test('returns null if custom emoji not found in database', async () => {
-    vi.spyOn(db, 'loadCustomEmojiByShortcode').mockResolvedValueOnce(undefined);
-    const customState = { type: 'custom', code: 'smile' } as const;
-    const result = await loadEmojiDataToState(customState, 'en');
-    expect(result).toBeNull();
-  });
-
   test('retries loading emoji data once if initial load fails', async () => {
     const dbCall = vi
       .spyOn(db, 'loadEmojiByHexcode')
diff --git a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.ts b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.ts
index 574d5ef59..39c517b59 100644
--- a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.ts
+++ b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/emoji/render.ts
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@ import {
   EMOJI_TYPE_UNICODE,
   EMOJI_TYPE_CUSTOM,
 } from './constants';
-import {
-  loadCustomEmojiByShortcode,
-  loadEmojiByHexcode,
-  LocaleNotLoadedError,
-} from './database';
+import { loadEmojiByHexcode, LocaleNotLoadedError } from './database';
 import { importEmojiData } from './loader';
 import { emojiToUnicodeHex } from './normalize';
 import type {
@@ -79,7 +75,7 @@ export function tokenizeText(text: string): TokenizedText {
 export function stringToEmojiState(
   code: string,
   customEmoji: ExtraCustomEmojiMap = {},
-): EmojiState | null {
+): EmojiStateUnicode | Required<EmojiStateCustom> | null {
   if (isUnicodeEmoji(code)) {
     return {
       type: EMOJI_TYPE_UNICODE,
@@ -89,11 +85,13 @@ export function stringToEmojiState(
 
   if (isCustomEmoji(code)) {
     const shortCode = code.slice(1, -1);
-    return {
-      type: EMOJI_TYPE_CUSTOM,
-      code: shortCode,
-      data: customEmoji[shortCode],
-    };
+    if (customEmoji[shortCode]) {
+      return {
+        type: EMOJI_TYPE_CUSTOM,
+        code: shortCode,
+        data: customEmoji[shortCode],
+      };
+    }
   }
 
   return null;
@@ -114,26 +112,23 @@ export async function loadEmojiDataToState(
     return state;
   }
 
+  // Don't try to load data for custom emoji.
+  if (state.type === EMOJI_TYPE_CUSTOM) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
   // First, try to load the data from IndexedDB.
   try {
     // This is duplicative, but that's because TS can't distinguish the state type easily.
-    if (state.type === EMOJI_TYPE_UNICODE) {
-      const data = await loadEmojiByHexcode(state.code, locale);
-      if (data) {
-        return {
-          ...state,
-          data,
-        };
-      }
-    } else {
-      const data = await loadCustomEmojiByShortcode(state.code);
-      if (data) {
-        return {
-          ...state,
-          data,
-        };
-      }
+    const data = await loadEmojiByHexcode(state.code, locale);
+    if (data) {
+      return {
+        ...state,
+        type: EMOJI_TYPE_UNICODE,
+        data,
+      };
     }
+
     // If not found, assume it's not an emoji and return null.
     log(
       'Could not find emoji %s of type %s for locale %s',