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The Unicode Consortium has unveiled a new collection of emojis. This latest batch includes over 100 symbols, most of which are variations on previously seen emojis, primarily depicting people in motion. Notable additions include a “running person, a kneeling person, a person with a white cane, and a person in a manual wheelchair,” as reported by Emojipedia.
Among these, six emojis are completely new. They feature a horizontal head shake, a vertical head shake, a fiery phoenix, a lime, a brown-capped mushroom, and a broken chain.
These recent additions, selected from the Unicode Consortium’s recommendations from September 2023, are currently available only to developers using iOS 17.4 beta 1. However, they are expected to be released alongside the final public version of iOS 17.4, likely in March 2024.
It has been nearly a year since users last saw a new class of symbols. In February 2023, Emojipedia confirmed the introduction of images of a moose, ginger root, and a goose, as reported by Popular Science.
How Are Emojis Chosen?
The process of determining new symbols is surprisingly complex. The Unicode Consortium is responsible for expanding the emoji library. This international organization oversees the standardization and implementation of updates to multilingual text and images. Anyone can submit their original emoji ideas, following a set of guidelines. Unicode will then approve or reject these proposals.
Next, consortium members will vote on the final emoji set (each member spends a significant amount annually for this privilege). Afterward, the selected options will undergo a lengthy process of final design and integration before being included in upcoming software updates.
According to Emojipedia, the next batch of emojis will feature a shovel, a leafless tree, and a face with bags under the eyes.
