diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 75d5b7f..88968a7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - Always download from newest emoji list url
 - Pass selection to custom typing tools through stdin
+- Pass info messages to stderr to avoid passing to picker tools
 
 <!-- ### Security -->
 
diff --git a/bemoji b/bemoji
index 7574a4d..433ffb0 100755
--- a/bemoji
+++ b/bemoji
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@ version() {
     exit
 }
 
+msg() {
+# Outputs a message to stderr, to be used for info, warning and error messages.
+    printf "%s\n" "$1" >&2
+}
+
 parse_cli() {
 	while getopts cD:ef:hnpP:tv-: arg "$@"; do
 		case "$arg" in
@@ -130,7 +135,7 @@ prepare_db() {
     if [ -n "$BEMOJI_DOWNLOAD_LIST" ]; then
         # Populate default lists
         if echo "$BEMOJI_DOWNLOAD_LIST" | grep -q -e 'none'; then
-            printf "Not downloading a default emoji list.\n"
+            msg "Not downloading a default emoji list."
             return
         elif echo "$BEMOJI_DOWNLOAD_LIST" | grep -q -e 'all'; then
             dl_default_emoji
@@ -158,19 +163,19 @@ dl_default_emoji() {
     local emojis
     emojis=$(curl -sSL "https://unicode.org/Public/emoji/latest/emoji-test.txt")
     printf "%s" "$emojis" | sed -ne 's/^.*; fully-qualified.*# \(\S*\) \S* \(.*$\)/\1 \2/gp' >"$bm_db_location/emojis.txt"
-    printf "Downloaded default emoji set.\n"
+    msg "Downloaded default emoji set."
 }
 dl_math_symbols() {
     curl -sSL "https://unicode.org/Public/math/latest/MathClassEx-15.txt" |
         grep -ve '^#' | cut -d';' -f3,7 | sed -e 's/;/ /' >"$bm_db_location/math.txt"
-    printf "Downloaded math symbols set.\n"
+    msg "Downloaded math symbols set."
 }
 dl_nerd_symbols() {
     local nerd all
     nerd=$(curl -sSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/master/css/nerd-fonts-generated.css")
     all+=$(printf "%s" "$nerd" | sed -ne '/\.nf-/p' -e '/\s*[^_]content:/p' | sed -e 'N;s/^\.nf-\(.*\):before.* content: \"\\\(.*\)\";/\\U\2 \1/')
     echo -e "$all" > "$bm_db_location/nerdfont.txt"
-    printf "Downloaded nerdfont symbols set.\n"
+    msg "Downloaded nerdfont symbols set."
 }
 
 gather_emojis() {
@@ -231,7 +236,7 @@ _clipper() {
     elif [ -n "$DISPLAY" ] && command -v xsel >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         xsel -b
     else
-        printf "No suitable clipboard tool found."
+        msg "No suitable clipboard tool found."
         exit 1
     fi
 }
@@ -250,7 +255,7 @@ _typer() {
     elif [ -n "$DISPLAY" ] && command -v xdotool >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         xdotool type --delay 30 "$totype"
     else
-        printf "No suitable typing tool found."
+        msg "No suitable typing tool found."
         exit 1
     fi
 }
@@ -270,7 +275,7 @@ _picker() {
 		fi
 	done
 
-	printf "No suitable picker tool found." 1>&2
+	msg "No suitable picker tool found."
 	exit 1
 }
 
diff --git a/test/bemoji_errors.bats b/test/bemoji_errors.bats
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6345e72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/bemoji_errors.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+setup_file() {
+    # make bemoji executable from anywhere relative to current testfile
+    TEST_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$BATS_TEST_FILENAME" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
+    PATH="$TEST_DIR/..:$PATH"
+}
+
+setup() {
+    load 'test_helper/bats-support/load'
+    load 'test_helper/bats-assert/load'
+
+    # set up small default set of test emoji for each test
+    export BEMOJI_DB_LOCATION="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/database"
+    export BEMOJI_HISTORY_LOCATION="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/history"
+    mkdir -p "$BEMOJI_DB_LOCATION" "$BEMOJI_HISTORY_LOCATION"
+    cat "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/resources/test_emoji.txt" > "$BEMOJI_DB_LOCATION/emoji.txt"
+
+    # these tests require stdout to be separated from stderr
+    # such run flags were only introduced in recent bats version
+    bats_require_minimum_version 1.5.0
+}
+
+@test "Prints clipper error to stderr" {
+    BEMOJI_PICKER_CMD="echo hi" run --separate-stderr bemoji 3>&-
+    assert_output ""
+    output="$stderr"
+    assert_output "No suitable clipboard tool found."
+}
+
+@test "Prints picker error to stderr" {
+    run --separate-stderr bemoji 3>&-
+    assert_output ""
+    output="$stderr"
+    assert_output "No suitable picker tool found."
+}
+
+@test "Prints typer error to stderr" {
+    BEMOJI_PICKER_CMD="echo hi" run --separate-stderr bemoji -t 3>&-
+    assert_output ""
+    output="$stderr"
+    assert_output "No suitable typing tool found."
+}