Skip to main content

Unicode 10.0, with gender-inclusive and 53 other new emojis, arrives

unicode approves new emojis 2017 emoji movie
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Update: Added the official release of Unicode 10.0.

The Unicode Consortium announced the official release of Unicode 10.0 which means you’re that much closer to having 56 more ways to express yourself. The list of new emojis — released in March — will be included in major updates for Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Google.

The variety of emojis includes several representations of diversity, along with a woman breastfeeding a baby, a woman wearing a hijab, a “gender-inclusive” child, adult, and older adult. For any fantasy fans out there, you’ll be happy to know the list also comes complete with a fairy, mage, vampire, mermaid, and elf.

When it comes to choosing which new emojis actually make the list, the consortium takes proposals and these additions are based on recommendations from the public over the past year. Other additions to the release of new emojis include a flying saucer, a T-rex, a sandwich, broccoli, and a pair of socks. And thanks to the efforts of a successful Kickstarter campaign, the new update does include a fortune cookie and dumpling emoji.

Google revealed the new emoji support in the first beta of Android O which has been redesigned to no longer look like strange “blobs.” They now look far more realistic and similar to the design you would see on iOS. As far as Apple goes with updates, users will most likely see the new emojis in the next major iOS release.

The use of emojis has grown immensely popular and migrated from texting to apps like Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. The Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit responsible for developing, maintaining, and promoting software internationalization standards and data, has responded with its common practice of releasing new emojis that better represent society, our online language, and offer further inclusivity.

While most might think the word “emoji” derives from “emotion,” any similarity to the English word is purely coincidental, as the word has its roots in the Japanese language. Originally meaning pictograph, the Japanese “e” means picture, and “moji” means character, together literally meaning “picture character.”

Harrison Kaminsky
Harrison’s obsession in the tech space originated in his father’s electronics store in Denville, New Jersey, where he…
WhatsApp now lets you send self-destructing voice messages
WhatsApp logo on a phone.

If you’re on WhatsApp and regularly make use of the view once feature for photo and video messages, then you might be interested to learn that the feature has now been expanded to voice messages.

WhatsApp’s view once feature does what it says, deleting a message after it’s been viewed a single time. It’s been available for photos and videos since 2021, but now you can also send voice messages that can only be played once before they, too, disappear from the app.

Read more
X rival Threads could be about to get millions of more users
Instagram Threads app.

Threads -- Meta’s rival to X, formerly Twitter -- has just launched in the European Union (EU), a market with nearly half a billion people.

The app launched in the U.S. to much fanfare in July, with Meta hoping to attract X users disillusioned with the turbulence on the platform since Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion 14 months ago.

Read more
X (formerly Twitter) returns after global outage
A white X on a black background, which could be Twitter's new logo.

X, formerly known as Twitter, went down for about 90 minutes for users worldwide early on Thursday ET.

Anyone opening the social media app across all platforms was met with a blank timeline. On desktop, users saw a message that simply read, "Welcome to X," while on mobile the app showed suggestions for accounts to follow.

Read more