💬 The Wrap
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Last week Apple released iOS 17.4, debuting 118 new emojis on eligible devices. 🆕🍏
These 118 new emojis break down into six brand new emoji concepts (e.g. 🐦🔥 Phoenix, 🍋🟩 Lime, and 🙂↔️ Head Shaking Horizontally), four new gender-neutral family emojis (e.g. 🧑🧑🧒 Family: Adult, Adult, Child), and 108 new direction-specifying people emojis (aka. new direction-based versions of six existing people emojis, plus their standard gender and skin tone variants).
Each of these new emojis were taken from Unicode's Emoji 15.1 recommendations, with the aforementioned 🐦🔥 Phoenix, 🍋🟩 Lime, and 🙂↔️ Head Shaking Horizontally being those that we here at Emojipedia have seen receive the most fanfare online.
As well as including new emojis, iOS 17.4 completely redesigned all of the existing 👪 Family emoji designs to display the individuals featured as white non-gender-indicative silhouettes overlayed on a grey square icon.
You can read about the rationale behind this change as well as the 118 new emojis in our iOS 17.4 Emoji Changelog.
With the release of iOS 17.4, Apple joins Samsung, Google, and (most recently) WhatsApp in providing at least partial support for Emoji 15.1.
They are not alone, however: SerenityOS, a new emoji design set that has recently made its debut within the Emojipedia archives, also provides support for a subset of Emoji 15.1's recommendations.
Also in this edition of the Emoji Wrap: a new emoji-based game hidden in Instagram, the desirability of emoji use amongst older people, and even more discourse about the 👍 Thumbs Up and 🍑 Peach emojis.
✨ New Emojis
🍏 iOS 17.4 Emoji Changelog
As discussed above, last week Apple updated its various devices to support Emoji 15.1 - first for iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4, then for tvOS 17.4, watchOS 10.4, and macOS 14.4 several days later.
Here we detail all the new emoji additions as well as provide background for the family emoji design changes.
🟢 New Emojis in WhatsApp For Android 2.24.2.76
At the start of last month, WhatsApp updated the emoji design set it uses for its Android and web platforms, introducing support for a subset of Emoji 15.1's recommendations (the new direction-specifying people are not yet supported).
Additionally, this update implemented some long-expected gender-neutral designs for non-gender-specifying people emojis such as 💁 Person Tipping Hand, 🦸 Superhero, and 🚴 Person Biking.
You can view all these new and changed emojis on our WhatsApp 2.24.2.76 page.
🔴 SerenityOS Emojis Debut on Emojipedia
This month the SerenityOS emoji set made its debut within the Emojipedia archives. Its emoji designs have a pixel art style, reminiscent of early video game icons and early non-animated color emoji sets from Softbank and Docomo.
You can view all of the SerenityOS emoji set here.
💭 Interesting
📸 Bored? Go play this hidden game in your Instagram DMs
An emoji-based secret game was uncovered within Instagram earlier this month, with a game of keep-it-up accessed via pressing on a single emoji sent as a direction message.
While it might most fittingly be played with the likes of ⚽ Soccer Ball, 🏀 Basketball (like the 2016 Facebook Messenger game), and maybe 🎈 Balloon, it appears to work with most emojis.
How ✨ became the unofficial AI emoji
You're seeing icons reminiscent of the ✨ Sparkles emoji across a lot of tech platforms lately, right? In what has now become a widely-reported phenomenon, the ✨ Sparkles emoji and ✨ Sparkles-like icons have become tech platforms' visual heuristic for a whole host of AI-based features.
Personally, it takes us back to October 2021 when we make sure to assure you all that it wasn't just you - the ✨ Sparkles emoji was pretty much ✨everywhere✨
🧓 Older adults want to express themselves with emojis, they just don't understand how to
This academic study from the University of Ottawa, Canada has found that older adults are very enthusiastic about emoji usage but can shy away from doing so in certain contexts, with the researchers also suggesting possible ways of encouraging more emoji use by the 🧓 Older Person in our lives.
👍 Can a thumbs-up emoji prove retaliation? Court says …
Another Emoji Wrap, another discussion of 👍 Thumbs Up in the context of a court case - this time with 👍 being considered as part of the evidence that reserved a Missouri court's previous ruling.
🍑 Gen Z workers say this emoji is the most NSFW — but boomers and millennials disagree
Another emoji in perpetual debate is the 🍑 Peach - this time, it's been the most NSFW emoji in workplace communications by a group of Gen Z professionals, with other generations citing the 🍆 Eggplant, 🍺 Beer Mug or 🖕 Middle Finger.
🤗 Lastly
Thank you, as always, for reading this edition of the Emoji Wrap! 🌯📯
For all the latest emoji news and analysis you can follow Emojipedia on Twitter/X, Bluesky, Mastadon, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
You can also follow the members of our Emojipedia team:
- 📚 Senior Emoji Lexicographer Jane Solomon
- 🎨 Head of Sample Emoji Design Joshua Jones
- 📰 And me, Emojipedia's Editor In Chief Keith Broni
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