Bigfoot, Orca, Distorted Smiley Face and Treasure Chest Among New Emoji Coming to iOS

Every year, the Unicode Consortium decides on new emoji characters that will be coming to smartphones and other devices in the future, and this week, the Unicode 17 emoji recommendations came out [PDF].

unicode 17 characters
Eight new emoji characters have been proposed, including hairy creature (like Bigfoot), distorted face, fight cloud, apple core, orca, trombone, landslide, and treasure chest. There are also skin tone variations for a number of existing emoji like ballet dancer, people with bunny ears, and people wrestling.

The Unicode consortium created mockups of what the emoji might look like, with the images shared by Emojipedia. It is important to note that the Unicode Consortium only comes up with the underlying emoji code, and Apple designers will create their own version of each character in the Apple style when the Unicode 17 standard is finalized.

Unicode 17 will likely be approved sometime next fall, though it will take Apple time to implement the new characters. We could see them around spring 2026 if Apple sticks with its typical emoji release timeline.

In 2025, Apple will introduce the Unicode 16 characters, which were approved in September 2024. Unicode 16 emoji include face with bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, and splatter.

Apple last introduced new emoji with the iOS 17.4 update that was released in March 2024. Characters added in iOS 17.4 include lime, an edible brown mushroom, a phoenix, a broken chain, shaking head vertically (as in a "yes" nod), and shaking head horizontally (a "no" head shake).

With iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, Apple will debut Genmoji for devices that support Apple Intelligence. Genmoji are a customizable version of emoji that are generated based on a phrase supplied by the user. ‌Genmoji‌ behave like emoji on Apple devices, but are not cross-platform and don't display like emoji characters on Android devices.

Tag: Emoji

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...

Top Rated Comments

Apple_Robert Avatar
20 weeks ago
Get ready for emoji complaints from those who don’t use them and think Apple’s software bugs are due to the entire staff working on new emojis.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nattK Avatar
20 weeks ago
Apple’s already ahead of the game with their real-life “distorted face” emoji

Attachment Image
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gtmead09 Avatar
20 weeks ago
LOL I can't tell you how many times I said darn where is the Orca emoji.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blcamp Avatar
20 weeks ago
We are becoming ancient Egypt... just in digital form rather than on papyrus, wood or stone.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Astuces iOS Avatar
20 weeks ago
There is genmoji guys

Attachment Image
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Algr Avatar
20 weeks ago

those who don’t use them and think Apple’s software bugs are due to the entire staff working on new emojis.
This is perfectly reasonable given the absurd amount of time that emojis and genmojis are getting in Apple demos.

- Fix the damn finder already!
- Stop the system from locking up every time an irrelevant drive needs to spin up.
- Stop truncating file names every chance you get.
- Bring back quicktime and its unparalleled file conversion tools.
- Stop breaking our old software.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)