New iOS 18.4 Beta Brings Fresh Emoji to Your Messages

New Emoji Arrive in iOS 18.4 Developer Beta

Apple has introduced seven new emoji in the iOS 18.4 developer beta, reflecting characters proposed by the Unicode Consortium in May 2024. These new additions include a root vegetable, a face with bag under eyes, a shovel, a harp, a splatter, a leafless tree, and a fingerprint. The Flag of Sark is also part of this update.

The new emoji are currently available for users who have installed the latest developer beta build. However, these symbols will only be visible to other users on the same version of iOS 18.4 beta. Sending these new emoji to devices running earlier versions will result in squares with question marks appearing in messages.

Long Process for Small Symbols

The journey from proposal to inclusion in operating systems is extensive and intricate. The Unicode Consortium proposed these eight emoji for Unicode 16 in May 2024, and they were subsequently approved later in the year. Apple and other tech companies then create their own designs based on the proposals.

More emoji are expected in the future. In November 2024, the Unicode Consortium's Emoji Standard & Research Working Group proposed 164 new symbols for Emoji 17.0, which is set to be released in September. These include an orca whale, a Bigfoot-style creature, a distorted face, a ballet dancer, an apple core, a landslide, and a trombone.