💬 The Wrap
The late spring is blossoming with plenty of updates, developments, and interest stories in the world of emojis. 🌼
Earlier this week at their annual WWDC event, Apple unveiled iOS 26, along with the first developer beta of its new year-referenced OS. The beta introduces new configuration options for the Genmoji feature, including the ability to use emojis and stickers alongside text prompts to create new combinations and "mixes", somewhat reminiscent of the Emoji Mashup Bot and Emoji Kitchen. 🍏🎨🤖
Samsung devices now support integration with the emojis recommended for release last September in Emoji 16.0, including a face with bags under its eyes, a splatter, and a leafless tree, as well as one update to a flag emoji. WhatsApp has also introduced the same flag emoji change, following in the footsteps of other major vendors responding to real-world events late last year. 🇸🇾🆕
One major Japanese carrier is officially saying farewell to its native emoji set from the late ‘90s, marking the end of an era beginning in the early internet days. Meanwhile, a series of inside jokes on TikTok centered around emoji usage are giving “you can’t sit with us.” 🚡🥀
Apple News subscribers will get a brand new emoji puzzle game with the upcoming iOS release this fall. 🧩🍎
To close out this Emoji Wrap, we’ve got some tongue-in-cheek tips from the chairperson of Unicode's emoji-approving committee about how to ensure yours doesn’t get picked in this season of Unicode’s open proposal window, as well as further discussion on emojis cited in the Netflix drama Adolescence as being symbols in an incel-culture-inspired encrypted messaging paradigm aren’t actually causing radicalization. 🙅💊
Plus, an AI model plays favorites when it comes to emoji choice in conversation with… itself. 🚫🙃🌀
✨ New Emojis
🍏🎨🤖 Hands-On With iOS 26's Genmoji "Mixes"
At this week's annual WWDC event, Apple announced iOS 26 and released the first developer beta of its year-based operating system. The update adds new Genmoji features, including the option to use emojis and stickers as prompts to create mixed emoji combinations.
Here we provide a hands-on breakdown of how to use this expanded incarnation of the Genmoji feature.
🆕⚫ Samsung One UI 7.0 Emoji Changelog
After a start-and-stop rollout, Samsung has completed the launch of the most recent update to its One UI.
The rollout culminated in the integration for support for the eight new emoji designs approved in Emoji 16.0 as well as the change to the 🇸🇾 Flag for Syria following regime change in the country late last year.
🇸🇾 WhatsApp 2.25.9.78 Emoji Changelog
The most recent update to the WhatsApp emoji library features only a single change to a country flag: like Samsung, that of 🇸🇾 Syria.
Learn more about the political context and conversation informing the change now instituted by Samsung, WhatsApp, and some other major vendors that began with public urging at the end of 2024.
📰 News
🧩 Apple News+ Bundle Will Include An Emoji Game
Subscribers of Apple News+ will get access to a brand new emoji puzzle to play when iOS 26 is released this fall, the company said.
The fill-in-the-blank-style game will have users complete expressions with emojis and will join the growing offering of News+ puzzles.
👋🌇 Docomo Discontinues Emoji Set
The Japanese cell network Docomo has officially announced it will retire its native emoji set on all devices. Though the library hadn’t been updated in more than a decade, the development wraps up an era that began in 1999.
Though some are sad to say goodbye to the emojis, some of which arguably helped define early internet communication, the move isn’t totally unwelcome for some users, who have complained about the mix on some devices of the earlier-era Docomo emojis and the later Android post-2013 ones.
💭 Interesting
💔🥀 TikTok’s Great Emoji Swap Inside Joke
Absurdist and ironic Gen Z internet humor has taken many shapes—with one that’s popular today being the replacement of emojis that have gone too “mainstream” with in-group-chosen alternatives. It’s a favorite of many looking to create community around the shared initiation into an inside joke—leaving many out of the loop and increasingly confused.
📋🙅 Tips for Getting Your Emoji Idea Rejected
With Unicode again accepting new proposals for emojis through the end of July, there are undoubtedly plenty of eager emoji enthusiasts vying for their submissions to make the cut.
Jennifer Daniel, chairperson of Unicode’s Emoji Subcommittee, wrote a step-by-step guide on how not to get a proposed emoji approved by the committee.
Unicode is currently accepting submissions for the next batch of emojis until July 31, so don't delay if you've got an idea brewing.
💊 Emojis Aren’t Causing Incel Violence
In highlighting incel culture and “manosphere”-inspired extremism on the internet, the popular Netflix drama Adolescence has also raised concerns about the encrypted meanings behind the emojis the shows says teens use to communicate hidden messages.
But emojis aren’t causing radicalization across the wider internet, two researchers argue. They can, however, inspire us to have conversations about generational language usage and social isolation among vulnerable groups.
🌀 Anthropic AI Loves The Cyclone Emoji
The flagship AI model from Anthropic, called Claude Opus 4, is apparently partial to one specific emoji when it’s talking to itself.
The company’s report on the AL behavior in “open-ended self-interaction” showed that its model heavily favored the 🌀 Cyclone emoji in particular, using it in “philosophical explorations of consciousness.”
🤗 Lastly
That’s it for this edition of the Emoji Wrap for June 2025, a collection of updates and content that’s coming in hot and setting our sights on a busy, emoji-filled summer!
For all the latest emoji news and analysis, you can follow Emojipedia on X, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok.
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