No matter your age, you may soon have to tell your parents that the new emojis don't mean what they think they mean — when iOS 15.4 finally arrives, it will come with 37 new emojis.
A waterslide, three beans, an empty jar, and a drained iPhone battery are some of the most straightforward emojis to be designed by the Unicode Consortium in this latest batch. In charge of creating a single unifying standard, the non-profit approves a new crop of emojis every year.
Prior to the latest announcement, the Unicode had a total of 3,633 registered emojis. And while the new emojis were announced in September, they will only now be available for use — the latest operating system developed by Apple (AAPL) is currently in beta.
Emojipedia
What Emojis Got Approved?
Other new emojis include a hand pointing toward the viewer in an "Uncle Sam Wants You" fashion as well as a wood creature, a melting face, and a mouth biting a lip. The new emojis, which will likely also be available on Android somewhat later, are based on a system of proposals — anyone is able to submit what they think would fill a current emoji void to the Unicode for consideration.
If you were looking to represent bubbles, your personal ID or a disco ball in texts with friends, you're also in luck. Some other new hand gestures to be included a hand facing upwards as though asking for money and two hands coming together to make a heart.
While the Unicode approves the overall design of each emoji to keep them easily recognizable, small differences in lines and shading make them look slightly different from platform to platform.
Some Are Staying Mad About the New Emojis
Each year, the announcement of new emojis brings with it a stir in certain circles — this time, this happened when the Unicode included a picture of a pregnant man and pregnant gender-neutral person.
Emojipedia says that it was "approved to make the emoji keyboard more consistent and gender-inclusive" for trans and non-binary people but also can be used "in jest to represent feeling too full after overeating, as in a 'food baby.'"
Right-wing commentators predictably called this emoji an example of "wokeness gone awry." In past years, inclusion of most LGBTQ emojis and a hijab-wearing emoji prompted similar responses.
Along with the emojis themselves, the Unicode also approved 75 additional skin tones that user can pick to represent themselves.
