We've got our first look at the changes Apple and Google are making to emoji in iOS 14 and Android 11. And the good news is there's more than ever, and they're extra cute.
This comes from reporting done by The Verge and Emojipedia, who have collected together the emoji previewed by the two companies.
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The subjects of the 117 new emoji were already decided back in January by the Unicode Consortium, the industry group in charge of deciding which characters get added to the Unicode standard so that there's consistency across all devices. But this is our first look at how Apple and Google will render these emoji on the iPhone and Android phones.
To recap the new additions to the emoji catalog, there are new gender variations of classic emoji like Bride, Groom, Feeding Baby, new anatomical symbols such as realistically-drawn heart and lungs, and the transgender flag and symbol to join the other gender and LGBTQ+ icons.
There are also new food and drink items, such as a tamale, fondue and bubble tea, and some new animals such as the dodo and polar bear.
Apple's versions will likely make it to all its main platforms, meaning you'll see these designs on macOS as well as iOS. We'll also see some new additions to Apple's customizable Memoji, including new face mask options; reflecting the increasingly common sight of them in the US and UK in real life.
Meanwhile on Android, Google has focussed on the redesigns of some of its animal emoji. Users of the Android 11 Beta may have already encountered these, but now they're definitely coming to the stable version of the OS too, according to Emojipedia. For example, take a look at the new turtle emoji, based on the one that originally existed on Android between 2013 and 2017.
Google will have its own designs for the wider selection of new emojis that are about to be introduced, but it looks like it's keeping those a secret for a little longer.
Hopefully users will be happy with this update, as it looks like we won't get another batch of emoji until 2022. This is due to the Unicode Consortium delaying the finalization of its next standard due to problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
