New emojis are coming to iPhones. In celebration of World Emoji Day, the Unicode Consortium confirmed the new emoji types that will be added when the iOS 26 update is released. Apple will include nine new emojis that can be used in WhatsApp. Among the new additions are a trombone, a Bigfoot, an orca, a treasure chest, and a trombone.
Unicode Consorium: regulates global standards for digital characters, including emojis
It’s important to remember that neither Apple nor Google updates the emoji catalog on WhatsApp. This is the responsibility of the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization whose goal is to coordinate the development and replace the encoding standards for certain characters. It essentially regulates global standards for digital characters, including emojis, and ensures they look the same on any platform.
Once Unicode 17 is released later this year, Apple will begin working on designing the new emoji in its signature style. As is typical, Apple takes several months to incorporate these emoji after a Unicode update, so we’ll likely see them available on devices starting next spring, and initially, not with the release of iOS 26, since even then, Unicode 17 won’t be released yet. So yes, they will arrive in this version of iOS, but later.
Apple added a new emoji in iOS 18.4, an update that came out at the end of March, so this could be a guide to when we’d see these in 2026
This year, Apple added a new emoji in iOS 18.4, an update that came out at the end of March, so this could be a guide to when we’d see these in 2026, as Unicode only releases one each year. According to Unicode, all of these emoji were selected for their symbolic meaning, visual clarity, and the variety of expressions they allow for communication.
New Emojis: a trombone, a Bigfoot, an orca…
The emojis that will be incorporated are: The trombone: an emoji for lovers of wind music; the treasure chest: useful for talking about riches, secrets, or video games; a distorted face: one of the most anticipated. It conveys emotional or mental chaos; a furry creature: inspired by legends like Bigfoot; an exploding cloud with lightning: a classic cartoon reference to symbolize arguments or fights; the inside of an apple: can represent waste, endings, or even health; an orca: a powerful marine animal that many users have been requesting; ballet dancers: to talk about art, culture, or elegant movement; and a kind of landslide: a graphic way of talking about natural disasters or drastic changes.
It’s worth remembering that anyone can propose an icon. Users can do so from their website, although it’s clear they’ll have thousands of proposals, and with so few added each year, it’s difficult to get the one you’re requesting accepted, but trying can always be interesting. When we write messages, we’re sure to think of a few emojis we’d like to use that aren’t available, that don’t exist.
This is good news for those who use emojis as phrases in conversations
For now, and until they’re officially released, Unicode has already published preliminary versions of these emojis so users can get an idea of how they’ll look in our chats, even though Apple will develop its own final design for each one. Ultimately, this is good news for those who use emojis as phrases in conversations. Since emojis became a part of our lives, communication has changed dramatically. Many people even say that when they have to say something that’s not nice, adding an emoji to their phrases can soften the conversation. They can make people laugh, express sadness, or express amusement. Ultimately, they help us communicate without using words.
