New emojis in 2026
Two waves this year: the batch that has been landing on phones since spring, and a fresh set that becomes official on September 16. I keep this page updated as each platform ships, so bookmark it if you like knowing what that mystery box in your group chat is supposed to be.
On your phone now: the Emoji 17.0 batch
Eight genuinely new emojis arrived with Emoji 17.0 — 163 new entries once you count every skin-tone combination. Apple shipped them in iOS 26.4 this March, Samsung folded them into One UI 8.5, and Google got there first via its font updates. Tap any of them for the full story, what they mean and how each platform draws them:
The full version rundown lives on the Emoji 17.0 page.
Where each platform stands
| Platform | Emoji 17.0 | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Shipped | iOS 26.4 / iPadOS / macOS (March 2026) |
| Shipped | Noto font updates, rolling across Android and Google apps since late 2025 | |
| Samsung | Shipped | One UI 8.5, starting with the Galaxy S26 (early 2026) |
| Shipped | its own emoji set updated through spring 2026 | |
| Windows | Not yet | still working through earlier batches |
Coming September 16: Emoji 18.0
Unicode locked the next list in July — nine new emojis, two of them with the full run of skin tones. I'm listing names and codepoints instead of the characters themselves because fonts don't include them yet; paste the raw characters today and you'd be looking at empty boxes.
- Cracking face
U+1FAEB— a face fracturing like dropped porcelain - Leftwards thumb sign
U+1FAF9— sideways thumb, with skin tones - Rightwards thumb sign
U+1FAFA— the other sideways thumb, also with skin tones - Monarch butterfly
U+1FACC— the first species-specific butterfly - Pickle
U+1FADD— took over the codepoint once pencilled in for an apple core - Lighthouse
U+1F6D9— long overdue for coastal texting - Meteor
U+1FA8B— when the comet is not dramatic enough - Eraser
U+1FA8C— the stationery drawer keeps filling out - Net with handle
U+1FA8D— a bug-catching net
The full story — including how the pickle inherited a dead emoji's codepoint — is in my rundown of the final Emoji 18.0 list. Realistic arrival on phones: late 2026 on Pixel if Google keeps its usual pace, spring 2027 for most everyone else.
What comes after that
The pipeline never really stops: proposals for the next batch close at the end of July, the committee sends out decisions by the end of November, and the first draft of the following year's list usually surfaces around the turn of the year. When it does, you'll read about it on the news page.
Quick answers
When do the 2026 new emojis come out?
The Emoji 17.0 batch is already on up-to-date iPhones, Androids and Galaxys. The next batch, Emoji 18.0, becomes official on September 16, 2026, but phones will start showing those emojis between late 2026 and spring 2027, depending on the platform.
Why don't the newest emojis show up on my phone?
Emoji are shipped inside system fonts and keyboards, so you need the software update that carries them. If someone sends an emoji your device does not have yet, you see a blank box or a plain question mark.
How many emojis are there in total?
Counting every distinct emoji in the current standard, just under 4,000 — and thousands more if you count every skin-tone combination separately.