diff --git a/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-characters.js b/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-characters.js
index 344dc4f307..107d2ea273 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-characters.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-characters.js
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 import {helper} from 'ember-helper';
 import {htmlSafe} from 'ember-string';
 
-export default helper(function (params) {
+export function countCharacters(params) {
     if (!params || !params.length) {
         return;
     }
 
     let el = document.createElement('span');
     let content = params[0] || '';
-    let {length} = content;
+
+    // convert to array so that we get accurate symbol counts for multibyte chars
+    // this will still count emoji+modifer as two chars
+    let {length} = Array.from(content);
 
     el.className = 'word-count';
 
@@ -21,4 +24,8 @@ export default helper(function (params) {
     el.innerHTML = 200 - length;
 
     return htmlSafe(el.outerHTML);
+}
+
+export default helper(function (params) {
+    return countCharacters(params);
 });
diff --git a/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-down-characters.js b/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-down-characters.js
index 4f7077846d..3abab9c61a 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-down-characters.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/app/helpers/gh-count-down-characters.js
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 import {helper} from 'ember-helper';
 import {htmlSafe} from 'ember-string';
 
-export default helper(function (params) {
+export function countDownCharacters(params) {
     if (!params || params.length < 2) {
         return;
     }
 
     let el = document.createElement('span');
     let [content, maxCharacters] = params;
-    let length;
 
-    content = content || '';
-    length = content.length;
+    // convert to array so that we get accurate symbol counts for multibyte chars
+    // this will still count emoji+modifer as two chars
+    let {length} = Array.from(content || '');
 
     el.className = 'word-count';
 
@@ -24,4 +24,8 @@ export default helper(function (params) {
     el.innerHTML = length;
 
     return htmlSafe(el.outerHTML);
+}
+
+export default helper(function (params) {
+    return countDownCharacters(params);
 });
diff --git a/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-characters-test.js b/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-characters-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fabde5f636
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-characters-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import {expect} from 'chai';
+import {describe, it} from 'mocha';
+import {countCharacters} from 'ghost-admin/helpers/gh-count-characters';
+
+describe('Unit: Helper: gh-count-characters', function() {
+    let defaultStyle = 'color: rgb(158, 157, 149);';
+    let errorStyle = 'color: rgb(226, 84, 64);';
+
+    it('counts remaining chars', function() {
+        let result = countCharacters(['test']);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${defaultStyle}">196</span>`);
+    });
+
+    it('warns when nearing limit', function () {
+        let result = countCharacters([Array(195 + 1).join('x')]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${errorStyle}">5</span>`);
+    });
+
+    it('indicates too many chars', function () {
+        let result = countCharacters([Array(205 + 1).join('x')]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${errorStyle}">-5</span>`);
+    });
+
+    it('counts multibyte correctly', function () {
+        let result = countCharacters(['💩']);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${defaultStyle}">199</span>`);
+
+        // emoji + modifier is still two chars
+        result = countCharacters(['💃🏻']);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${defaultStyle}">198</span>`);
+    });
+});
diff --git a/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-down-characters-test.js b/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-down-characters-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..41d4eb06bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ghost/admin/tests/unit/helpers/gh-count-down-characters-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import {expect} from 'chai';
+import {describe, it} from 'mocha';
+import {countDownCharacters} from 'ghost-admin/helpers/gh-count-down-characters';
+
+describe('Unit: Helper: gh-count-down-characters', function() {
+    let validStyle = 'color: rgb(159, 187, 88);';
+    let errorStyle = 'color: rgb(226, 84, 64);';
+
+    it('counts chars', function() {
+        let result = countDownCharacters(['test', 200]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${validStyle}">4</span>`);
+    });
+
+    it('warns with too many chars', function () {
+        let result = countDownCharacters([Array(205 + 1).join('x'), 200]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${errorStyle}">205</span>`);
+    });
+
+    it('counts multibyte correctly', function () {
+        let result = countDownCharacters(['💩', 200]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${validStyle}">1</span>`);
+
+        // emoji + modifier is still two chars
+        result = countDownCharacters(['💃🏻', 200]);
+        expect(result.string)
+            .to.equal(`<span class="word-count" style="${validStyle}">2</span>`);
+    });
+});