The Unicode Consortium opened its beta review period for Unicode 16, which includes the all-new emojis coming with iOS 18 and Android 15, most likely at the beginning of next year. So far, the platform has considered seven new emojis.
This beta review period lasts until July 2, and then Unicode 16 will be announced with the officially approved new characters. After that, it’s up to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other vendors to add these new figures to their systems.
So far, the new emojis expected for iOS 18 include a face with bags under the eyes, a fingerprint, a leafless tree, a root vegetable, a harp, a shovel, and splatter.
If Apple follows the trend, the new iOS 18 emojis should be available with iOS 18.4, which should come in early 2025. With iOS 17.4, Apple added several new figures, including mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are available in the emoji keyboard in addition to 18 people and body emoji with the option to face them in either direction.
While Apple would add several new emoji figures with previous iOS versions, Unicode is basically adding diversity to the current figures or adding a new animal, plant, fruit, etc., as the keyboard is pretty much completed by now.
Alongside iOS 17.4, Apple also added:
- Apple Podcasts Transcripts: Transcripts let you follow an episode with text that highlights in sync with the audio in English, Spanish, French, and German
- Accessibility podcast features: Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, tapped to play from a specific point, and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver
- Apple Music tweaks: Music recognition lets you add songs you have identified to your Apple Music Playlists and Library with iPadOS 17.4
- Messages changes: Business updates you opt-in to keep you informed of order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts, or other transactions from trusted businesses in Messages for Business
- Apple Cash: Apple Cash virtual card numbers enable you to pay with Apple Cash at merchants that don’t yet accept Apple Pay by typing in your number from Wallet or using Safari AutoFill
BGR will let you know once Unicode officially unveils the new emojis that are expected to land with iOS 18.
