💬 The Wrap
Arguably the biggest emoji release of the year is when Apple updates iOS; and that's exactly what has taken place in the last week - for developers at least. iOS 12.1 beta 2 is the release first from Apple to include Emoji 11.0 support, and also the first time a number of these emojis have been shown.
On the podcast this month I speak to Jason Snell who has been writing about Apple hardware and software since I was a nerdy child reading Macworld magazine in the 90s. We talked about much of what's in this very newsletter, including the supposed bagel-emoji-gate.
Expect iOS 12.1 to come out of beta in either late October, or early-mid November if Apple keeps to their usual timeframes this year.
📰 News
📲 Every New Emoji in iOS 12.1
Initially I thought this update would only bring the 157 new emojis from Emoji 11.0 (2018) to iOS. There's one additional emoji in there from Emoji 4.0 (2016) that I had not expected.
🍏 Apple brings more than 70 new emoji to iPhone with iOS 12.1
Apple doesn't publish press releases every day, or for non-major items. So you can tell that emoji support is genuinely considered important to Apple, by the attention it gets even when in a developer beta.
I suspect we'll see stronger moves with Memoji going forward too. The Unicode emoji set can only do so much for individual customisation, so Memoji - while not the same as emoji - fills a welcome gap for many.
🎌 SoftBank is now on Emojipedia
The emoji set that directly inspired Apple's iOS emoji font is now in the Emojipedia archives.
💻 Windows 10 October 2018 Emoji Changelog
Windows 10 October 2018 Update (yes that's what it's called) came out this week...on the same day Apple announced iOS 12.1 beta with new emoji support. Deliberate? I don't think so, but it does feel like Apple's news swamped Microsoft 1000:1, if my Twitter mentions are anything to go by.
💭 Interesting
🗺 Yandex Maps Emoji Update
You know how last month I noted that Russia's Yandex Maps had been removing user-submitted emoji labels? Now they've shut the whole thing down.
🗽 What’s Going on With Apple’s New Bagel Emoji?
"What midwestern bagel factory did this bagel come out of?" asks Nikita Richardson in one of the first critiques of Apple's new bagel emoji. I have to say, I do enjoy what you US folk call an "everything bagel" with the seeds, but this looks fine to me too. Google and Twitter neatly avoided accusations of a stiff bagel by showing it already filled but is that a pure of a way to say "bagel"?
💬 The Swadesh 100 list as emoji
"The Swadesh list is a classic set of 100 vocabulary items that are collected by linguists in different languages to compare the similarities and differences of those languages." How many of these have an emoji version? Linguist Lauren Gawne takes a look.
👌 No, the OK Hand is not a symbol of white power
I debated publishing this for a while, as it was clear that many pushing this concept online were doing so simply to get publications to cover this as a legitimate use. One challenge is that unless disputed, it seemed other unwitting participants had sometimes been fooled into an alternate narrative. Hopefully this clear things up.
🇨🇳 Emoticons, emoji, stickers, and custom images on Chinese digital media
A fascinating and detailed look at "biaoqing" in China: "a general term that encompasses multiple genres of visual content shared by a user as part of a chat conversation, a comment reply or a forum discussion — a category that is also sometimes stretched to include animated GIFs"
📷 Instagram is the latest app to suggest you only communicate with emojis
This isn't quite "emoji reactions" as it works on other platforms, more of a quick suggestion list of recent or context-relevant emojis to add as a comment.
👩🎤 Cher, on her infamous emoji-laden tweets
I'm glad it's not just me that doesn't know what Cher is trying to say sometimes.
🤦♂️ Someone trademarked a popular WeChat emoji and netizens are mad
"Unlike in the US, where someone filing for a trademark has to prove how the trademark is being used or will be used in business, China has a “first to file” system, meaning that whoever registers first gets the trademark -- unless anyone objects."
❤ Canadian singer Michael Bublé's new album is named after an emoji
I mean...it's a love heart first, an emoji second. But it got the headline it might have otherwise not had, by emoji association.
🎙 Podcasts
⚾️ Emoji Wrap 15: "Yellow Baseball" with Jason Snell
A real pleasure to have Jason on the podcast this month. You can follow his writing at podcasts at Six Colors.
🦛 Connected #212: NanoHippo
Federico Viticci guesses the names of the new emojis in iOS 12.1. "Party Tongue"?
🗓 Events
🗓 Win a 2019 Unicalendar
Described by creator Josh Williams as a "the highest-brow emoji calendar you'll come across ", this emoji-inspired calendar is beautifully designed, and looks great on the wall.
We're giving five of these away to Emoji Wrap readers! To enter: act fast. Reply to this email with:
- 👤 Your name
- 📮 Your postal address
- 📥 Your email address
- ❔ The emoji that is shown to represent July 17th on the 2019 Unicalendar
Entry is open to anyone in the world and postage is included (though if your country decides to apply customs to your gift, that would be on you to pay). Entries close exactly 24h after this newsletter is sent. One entry per person, and winners will be randomly selected and notified no later than October 19, 2018.
Please don't enter more than once, as duplicate entries will be discarded. Keep an eye on Emoji Wrap on Twitter for announcements. Your personal details will be deleted upon completion of the competition and will not be used for any purpose other than sending the winning calendar entries.