The Unicode Consortium has officially released eight new emojis, set to appear on smartphones and computers starting late 2024 and continuing into 2025. The new additions include a harp, shovel, a face with bags under its eyes, a splatter symbol, and a root vegetable. The Face with Bags Under Eyes emoji has already become one of the most anticipated new additions for 2024.
This release finalizes what had previously been a draft version of Unicode 16.0, previewed by Emojipedia on World Emoji Day in July. All eight new emojis will be gradually rolled out across major platforms, including Apple, Google, and Samsung. The Unicode Consortium also introduced a total of 5,185 new characters this month, bringing the overall count to 154,998.
These new characters feature seven scripts from regions like West Africa, India, and Nepal, as well as historical scripts such as Todhri from Albania and Tulu-Tigalari from Southwest India. Additionally, there are nearly 4,000 new Egyptian hieroglyphs and symbols from legacy computing environments.
New emojis on the horizon
While emoji updates tend to attract the most attention, most of these new characters are intended to serve broader purposes in computing, including linguistics and historical documentation. With the finalization of Unicode 16.0, developers can begin integrating these new characters into their platforms, though widespread support is expected to roll out gradually. Early updates could appear as soon as late 2024, with the majority likely to be adopted by mid-2025.
The exhausted face was voted the “most anticipated emoji,” winning more than 60% of the vote in the World Emoji Awards. While some emojis might seem whimsical, others like the leafless tree aim to raise awareness about serious issues such as drought and climate change. Brian Baihaki, who submitted the leafless tree emoji, explained, “Drought is a natural part of the climate cycle, but the climate is changing, making droughts more frequent and severe.”
Different operating systems and companies often put their own spin on emoji designs.
For instance, Google’s initial design of a beer emoji showed foam hovering above a half-full glass, and their hamburger emoji had its cheese placed incorrectly. Both designs have since been corrected.
