iOS 18 Emoji Revealed: Here’s When You Can Expect to Get Them

The Unicode Consortium has revealed new emoji characters and most, if not all of them, should come to iPhone in an iOS 18 update from Apple.

In total, the Consortium has preview seven new emoji characters. And while they haven’t been finalized just yet, we expect all of them to receive approval.

Once they do, Apple and Google will work to deploy them in software updates for smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

The seven emoji characters under consideration right now include the following:

• Face with bags under eyes
• Fingerprint
• Leafless tree
• Harp
• Root vegetable
• Shovel
• Splatter

The beta review period for these emoji lasts until July 2nd. After that, Unicode 16 will be released and the new icons will gain approval.

At that point, Apple and Google will need to create artwork, a process that won’t happen overnight. Typically it takes several months.

The emoji likely won’t be ready for iOS 18’s initial release in the fall which means we’ll probably see them deployed in an iOS 18 milestone release (iOS 18 x.x) in late 2024 or early 2025.

Apple most recently brought new emoji characters to iPhone with iOS 17.4. The iOS 17.4 update was released back in March of this year.

If Apple utilizes similar timing, iOS 18.4 would be the update that delivers these emoji characters to iPhone users around the world.

Of course, the iPhone won’t be the only device to get access to these characters. They will also come to iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac users down the road.

Mac users can expect them in a macOS 15 milestone upgrade. iPad users will get them in an iPadOS 18 update. And Apple Watch users will see them in an upcoming watchOS 11 upgrade.