diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ccd2bb..8cab778 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -301,6 +301,36 @@ emojiIndex.search('christmas').map((o) => o.native)
 // => [🎄, 🎅🏼, 🔔, 🎁, ⛄️, ❄️]
 ```
 
+## Get emoji data from Native
+You can get emoji data from native emoji unicode using the `getEmojiDataFromNative` util function.
+
+```js
+import { getEmojiDataFromNative, Emoji } from 'emoji-mart'
+import data from 'emoji-mart/data/all.json'
+
+const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative('🏊🏽‍♀️', 'apple', data)
+
+<Emoji
+  emoji={emojiData}
+  set={'apple'}
+  skin={emojiData.skin || 1}
+  size={48}
+/>
+```
+
+#### Example of `emojiData` object:
+```js
+emojiData: {
+  "id": "woman-swimming",
+  "name": "Woman Swimming",
+  "colons": ":woman-swimming::skin-tone-4:",
+  "emoticons": [],
+  "unified": "1f3ca-1f3fd-200d-2640-fe0f",
+  "skin": 4,
+  "native": "🏊🏽‍♀️"
+}
+```
+
 ### With custom data
 ```js
 import data from 'emoji-mart/datasets/messenger'
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 57d4bfb..6563e64 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export {
 } from './utils/emoji-index/nimble-emoji-index'
 export { default as store } from './utils/store'
 export { default as frequently } from './utils/frequently'
+export { getEmojiDataFromNative } from './utils'
 
 export { default as Picker } from './components/picker/picker'
 export { default as NimblePicker } from './components/picker/nimble-picker'
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/get-emoji-data-from-native.test.js b/src/utils/__tests__/get-emoji-data-from-native.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72efc30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/get-emoji-data-from-native.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import React from 'react'
+import { getEmojiDataFromNative } from '..'
+
+import data from '../../../data/apple'
+
+test('will find man lifting weights with skin tone 6', () => {
+  const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative('🏋🏿‍♂️', 'apple', data)
+  expect(emojiData.id).toEqual('man-lifting-weights')
+  expect(emojiData.skin).toEqual(6)
+})
+
+test('will find woman swimming with skin tone 4', () => {
+  const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative('🏊🏽‍♀️', 'apple', data)
+  expect(emojiData.id).toEqual('woman-swimming')
+  expect(emojiData.skin).toEqual(4)
+})
+
+test('will find person in lotus positions', () => {
+  const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative('🧘', 'apple', data)
+  expect(emojiData.id).toEqual('person_in_lotus_position')
+  expect(emojiData.skin).toEqual(1)
+})
+
+test('returns null if no match', () => {
+  const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative('', 'apple', data)
+  expect(emojiData).toEqual(null)
+})
diff --git a/src/utils/index.js b/src/utils/index.js
index f208be5..6862779 100644
--- a/src/utils/index.js
+++ b/src/utils/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { buildSearch } from './data'
 import stringFromCodePoint from '../polyfills/stringFromCodePoint'
+import { uncompress } from './data'
 
 const _JSON = JSON
 
@@ -137,6 +138,52 @@ function getData(emoji, skin, set, data) {
   return emojiData
 }
 
+function getEmojiDataFromNative(nativeString, set, data) {
+  if (data.compressed) {
+    uncompress(data)
+  }
+
+  const skinTones = ['🏻', '🏼', '🏽', '🏾', '🏿']
+  const skinCodes = ['1F3FB', '1F3FC', '1F3FD', '1F3FE', '1F3FF']
+
+  let skin
+  let skinCode
+  let baseNativeString = nativeString
+
+  skinTones.forEach((skinTone, skinToneIndex) => {
+    if (nativeString.indexOf(skinTone) > 0) {
+      skin = skinToneIndex + 2
+      skinCode = skinCodes[skinToneIndex]
+    }
+  })
+
+  let emojiData
+
+  for (let id in data.emojis) {
+    let emoji = data.emojis[id]
+
+    let emojiUnified = emoji.unified
+
+    if (emoji.variations && emoji.variations.length) {
+      emojiUnified = emoji.variations.shift()
+    }
+
+    if (skin && emoji.skin_variations && emoji.skin_variations[skinCode]) {
+      emojiUnified = emoji.skin_variations[skinCode].unified
+    }
+
+    if (unifiedToNative(emojiUnified) === baseNativeString) emojiData = emoji
+  }
+
+  if (!emojiData) {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  emojiData.id = emojiData.short_names[0]
+
+  return getSanitizedData(emojiData, skin, set, data)
+}
+
 function uniq(arr) {
   return arr.reduce((acc, item) => {
     if (acc.indexOf(item) === -1) {
@@ -214,6 +261,7 @@ function throttleIdleTask(func) {
 
 export {
   getData,
+  getEmojiDataFromNative,
   getSanitizedData,
   uniq,
   intersect,
diff --git a/stories/index.js b/stories/index.js
index 919122d..5246092 100644
--- a/stories/index.js
+++ b/stories/index.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   color,
 } from '@storybook/addon-knobs'
 
-import { Picker, Emoji, emojiIndex, NimbleEmojiIndex } from '../dist'
+import { Picker, Emoji, emojiIndex, NimbleEmojiIndex, getEmojiDataFromNative } from '../dist'
 import data from '../data/all.json'
 import '../css/emoji-mart.css'
 
@@ -242,3 +242,35 @@ storiesOf('Headless Search', module)
       </div>
     )
   })
+
+storiesOf('Get emoji data from Native', module)
+  .addDecorator(withKnobs)
+  .add('Default', () => {
+    const emojiData = getEmojiDataFromNative(
+      text('Unicode', '🏋🏿‍♂️'),
+      select('Emoji pack', SETS, SETS[0]),
+      data
+    )
+    if (!emojiData) {
+      return (
+        <div>
+          Couldn`t find any emoji data from native...
+        </div>
+      )
+    }
+
+    return (
+      <div>
+        <Emoji
+          emoji={emojiData}
+          set={select('Emoji pack', SETS, SETS[0])}
+          skin={emojiData.skin || 1}
+          size={48}
+        />
+
+        <pre>
+          emojiData: {JSON.stringify(emojiData, null, 2)}
+        </pre>
+      </div>
+    )
+  })