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Unicode won't accept any new flag emoji
Unicode has warned that it no longer accepts new flag emoji, as they're apparently too much of a hassle.
Microsoft’s 3D ‘Fluent’ emoji arrive in Teams
Microsoft Teams now has 3D emoji.
The most-used emoji in 2021 are mostly unchanged from 2019
Despite the pandemic, we're still using positive emoji much of the time.
Unicode 14.0 adds 37 new emoji, including 'melting face' and 'beans'
Following a pandemic-related delay, the Unicode Consortium has finalized Unicode 14.0.
Android 12's emoji include a 'universal' pie and a happier mask wearer
Google has unveiled its emoji updates for Android 12, including a 'universal' pie — and it'll be easier to use emoji in apps, too.
Minor emoji update for 2021 adds 200 skintone variants for couples
The Unicode Consortium has unveiled a relatively minor emoji update that would still add 217 options to your selection next year. The rest is made up of new skintone grouping variants for the “couple with heart” and “couple kissing” emoji. The Consortium had to push back its annual Unicode Standard release by six months due to COVID-19: Unicode 14.0, which was supposed to come out in March 2021, will now be released in September.
Next year's emoji update will be delayed by six months
The Unicode Consortium will delay the rollout of new emoji in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, it's considering a smaller update to the current set that combines existing characters,
A Vermont bill would bring emoji license plates to the US
With their ability to add a dash of color and whimsy to a text message, emoji have become an indispensable part of our online interactions. Thanks to a new piece of proposed legislation introduced last week in the Vermont House of Representatives, they could soon start making state license plates more colorful as well.
Apple and Google show off their more inclusive emoji for 2019
The Unicode Consortium teased the next round of emoji additions for 2019, and now it's clear just what they'll look like when they reach your phone. Both Apple and Google are marking World Emoji Day (July 17th) by showing their adaptations of the dozens of emoji characters coming to their platforms later in the year -- you can find a few of Apple's examples above, and Google's below. In both cases, the focuses are on inclusivity and a bit of whimsy.
New emoji for 2019 include wheelchairs, waffles and sloths
It's that time of year when the Unicode Consortium decides which new emoji you'll see, and this year's selection of 59 new base emoji (230 if you include all gender and skin variations) is both inclusive and eclectic. To start, Apple's accessibility emoji play a central role: you'll find wheelchairs, guide dogs and deaf people, among other additions. Beyond those, you'll find many different couple combinations based on skin color and gender.
'Emojiland' review: Come for the 💩, stay for the 💗
Warning: This review contains mild spoilers. Spending two hours of my life watching emoji deal with existential crises isn't something I ever expected to do. That almost feels fitting considering that the show's creators, Keith and Laura Harrison, never expected they'd have the chance to stage their emoji musical off-Broadway. Emojiland runs through Sunday as part of the New York Musical Festival, and it endeavors to deal with weightier subjects than you might expect from a show in which a woman dressed as a 💩 brings the house down with a brassy, gospel-inspired number in a bathroom stall. But what is it like to actually sit through? Not bad, actually, as long as you're walking in with an open mind.
‘Emojiland’ blends musical theater and existential angst
The thing about musical theatre is that pleasant surprises are never too hard to find. A rock musical about 19th-century German teenagers exploring their sexuality won a Tony. And right now, a man playing a cartoon sponge from Nickelodeon is charming audiences on Broadway. Is it so strange, then, that someone out there decided a musical about emoji needed to happen? Nah.
Apple’s new emojis will include a superhero and more hair options
Apple announced today that more than 70 new emojis are on the way, including characters with more hair options, new food items and additional animals. Emoji faces will soon have the option of having red hair, will include more gray and curly hairstyles and will also have a bald selection. As for new smiley faces, Apple will be releasing a cold face, party face, pleading face and face with hearts. New animals will include a kangaroo, parrot, lobster and peacock while new food options will include a mango, cupcake, lettuce and moon cake. Also on the docket are more sports emojis, like a softball, as well as superhero characters.
2019's emoji hopefuls include a service dog and flamingo
Unicode has released a preview list of what might end up in the next round of emoji. Potential additions to Unicode 12 include a diving mask, axe, falafel, waffle, diya lamp and Hindu temple. Oh, a flamingo and a white heart, too. Because people were apparently craving those. Most importantly, the list includes a smattering of new emoji for people with disabilities, like an ear with a hearing aid, a motorized wheelchair, a service dog and mechanical leg among others.
Apple proposes 13 emojis representing those with disabilities
Apple has proposed a set of new emojis representing those with vision, hearing and motor disabilities, BuzzFeed News reports. Included are emojis of guide and service dogs, people with canes, individuals signing the word "deaf," an ear with a hearing aid, people in wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. "This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all possible depictions of disabilities, but to provide an initial starting point for greater representation for diversity within the emoji universe," Apple said in its Unicode Consortium proposal.
This year's new emoji include redheads, legs and a salt shaker
There are 157 new emoji coming this year. What made the cut? Ginger-haired people, female superheroes, dark-skinned folks with curly hair, pirate flags and... soap. There are also skin-tone options and genders for superheroes and supervillains, a test tube, salt (finally), a leg, balding people and a male and female option for white hair. Unicode says that the set is finalized and that they should start appearing on your phones and other devices as soon as August. Sure, that's still six months away, but it gives you time make a request for the next emoji set before March's deadline. For a quick visual overview of what's coming, check the video below.
Emoji authorities get rid of the sad poop face
It's been a while since the Unicode Emoji Consortium released its sixth set of proposed emojis last June, with a follow up in August (which offered up a drunken face and unhappy poo, oddly enough). Now the consortium has given developers the first Emoji 11 beta, which contains 130 draft emojis, including a female superhero, a lobster and a party face. There's no trace of the sad poo and that makes us, well, sad.
Apple adds wizard, dinosaur and mermaid emoji in iOS 11.1
Hundreds more emoji are coming to your iPhone soon. Apple says it's adding "more emotive smiley faces" as well as gender-neutral icons, more food and (importantly) mythical creatures -- in time for Halloween, we hope. The series is coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1, which will launch next week, early, for developers and public beta testers. If the emoji additions sound familiar, that's because Apple had teased these back in July. It appears the company is going beyond the 56 Unicode consortium-approved emoji, but that's likely explained by skin color and hair variants -- we haven't glimpsed the entire set yet. But now that there's a gyoza emoji, all is well. Of course, for those waiting around for those animated emoji, you've still got some time on your hands: the iPhone X isn't out until November.
Proposed emojis include the drunk face and sad poo we've all been missing
It's only been a month since the Unicode Emoji Consortium released version 10 of the colorful little communication icons, including more diverse images along with zombies, a T-rex and (yes) a sandwich icon. Now, though, the group has yet another set of proposed emojis for next year. Along with more math and science items and a silly drunk face emoji, the new group of 67 tiny pictures includes, wait for it, a new sad poo emoji.
Emojipedia founder talks the past, present and future of emoji
We've been a little surprised by the outpouring of enthusiasm for World Emoji Day so far: Apple released a sneak peeks of its new emoji designs, Google signaled the end of its blobs, and the Empire State Building will be lit up in yellow to mark the occasion. (No, we're not kidding.) Still, despite how hugely culturally relevant these characters have become, details like how new emoji go from idea to icon can sometimes feel shrouded in obscurity. To learn more about the process, we sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia.
