New Apple Emojis Are Coming—Here’s What We Know

Some new emojis are in town, so don’t be surprised if your messages blow up with solid pink hearts, a donkey or a cute blue jellyfish soon. These options are just some of the new emojis launching on Apple’s latest iPhone update—but if you aren’t enrolled in the Apple Developer Program, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for them to hit your phone. Luckily, there’s a lot to look forward to, and the public update should launch sometime in March or April.

Here’s the scoop on the newest emojis coming with the latest iOS 16.4 beta update.

What are Apple’s new emojis?

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Apple’s new emojis cover various categories, including Animal and Food options. Not counting the skin color variations for applicable emojis, Apple has included 21 new emojis in its forthcoming update.

Starting with the latest emoji expression is Apple’s shaking face emoji. The emoji features a shocked expression and two lines on either side to indicate shaking. We think it’ll become a popular choice to indicate utter shock or a reaction to earth-shattering news, but as text culture evolves, so can emoji meanings. Also on the virtual human side are two new pushing hand emojis—one left hand and one right hand. The hands include all the usual skin tone options and look like a hand in mid-high five.

Another notable release is a solid pink heart emoji, which according to Emojipedia, has been a highly requested option in its polls in 2016 and 2019. The solid pink heart made its way to the official selection table at the Unicode Consortium (the corporation responsible for selecting emojis, which maintains standards for international, multilingual text and images) and passed for 2023.

The official emoji selection process is more complex than you’d think. The Unicode Consortium’s selection process takes many factors into account, and per the corporation’s full list of proposal guidelines, submitting a proposal is also more complicated than it sounds. Some of its criteria are quite granular, but Unicode’s process boils down to a combination of cultural, geopolitical and accessibility considerations, which determine which emojis make it from the proposal stage to your phone’s mobile operating system.

Apple’s new emojis made the cut, and here’s the complete list of what will appear on your emoji keyboard once the iOS 16.4 update goes public:

• Light Blue Heart
• Grey Heart
• Pink Heart
• Shaking Face
• Rightwards Pushing Hand (in various skin tones)
• Leftwards Pushing Hand (in various skin tones)
• Blue Jellyfish
• Donkey
• Moose
• Goose
• Wing
• Pea Pod
• Hyacinth
• Folding Hand Fan
• Ginger
• Flute
• Hair Pick
• Maracas
• Wireless
• Khanda
• Black Bird

It’s important to note that the appearance of these new emojis might change since they’re still in the beta stage. Per Emojipedia, in the past, some emojis, like the peach, changed slightly from their original mockup to their finalized look.

What are some of Apple’s other new updates?

Here are some of the updates you’ll find when iOS 16.4 launches, according to CNET:

• Apple Podcasts updates will enable access to podcast channels you’re subscribed to in your Library and use “Up Next” to resume, start or remove podcast episodes.
• Check your AppleCare in Settings. The page will show you who’s covered and which devices are included.
• A small change to the Music interface means once you put a song in your queue, you’ll see a small banner at the bottom of your screen instead of the previous full-screen iteration.
• New order-tracking widgets for Apple Wallet can be added to your home screen.
• Two new language keyboards—Choctaw and Chickasaw keyboards—join the list of other Apple language keyboards.

Sources:

• CNET: “iOS 16.4 Beta: The New Features Public Beta Testers Can Try Now”
• The Unicode Consortium