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A shaking face, a Wi-Fi symbol, a jellyfish and different colored hearts are among the 21 new emoji available on Apple devices with the latest iOS update.
The highly requested “pink heart” emoji is one of three new hearts included in the release, along with light blue and gray variations.
‘Shaking face’ could be used for startle reactions or to indicate excessive movement, such as during an earthquake.
Other inclusions include pea pod, ginger, angel wing, maracas, moose, donkey and a khanda – the symbol of the Sikh faith.
The emoji are included in iOS 16.4, Apple’s new software update, now available for iPhone models from iPhone 8 and later.
These are the 31 new emoji now available on Apple devices, including a shaking face, a Wi-Fi symbol and a pink heart
Emojipedia – part of the Unicode Consortium, the central bank of all approved emojis – approved the new emoji release – dubbed 15.0 – last year.
Companies are applying stylized versions of the designs to their own operating systems — including Apple, Google and Meta, which began rolling out their own new designs on Facebook late last month.
One of the most anticipated additions is a pink heart, one of the most “discussed absences from the emoji keyboard” since 2016, according to Emojipedia.
There are already several other versions of pink hearts, including a growing pink heart, two hearts, heart with arrow, heart with ribbon, and beating heart, but no regular pink heart.
Other new emojis include blackbird, goose, hyacinth, hand fan, wooden whistle and hair pick – used for combing curly or thick hair.
Despite faces being among the most commonly used emojis, the only new face emoji in this release is “shake face.”
There’s also a ‘pushing hand’ in a range of colors – yellow and various skin tones – facing right or left.
Pushing hand emoji resembles half of the existing “folded hands” emoji, which is often used to indicate prayer, thanks or reverence.
It can be used to indicate the refusal of something, or to extend a hand for a high five.
Apple’s version of pushing hand is markedly different from the preview image revealed by Emojipedia last year.
Including the color variations of the pushing hands, there are 31 new emojis available starting today.
“Today, Apple introduced 31 new emoji designs within the recently released iOS 16.4 update, finally bringing a simple pink heart emoji to iPhones, iPads and all other Apple devices around the world,” said Keith Broni on Emojipedia.
“Each of the 31 new emojis included in iOS 16.4 are from Unicode’s Emoji 15.0 Recommendations, released last September.”
‘Shaking face’, which can be used for startle reactions or to indicate excessive movement, such as during an earthquake
Apple’s emoji, clockwise from top left: gray heart, light blue heart, pink heart, khanda, and the Wi-Fi symbol
In general, Apple’s versions of the emoji are more detailed and realistic, and less cartoonish than Emojipedia’s sample images.
Apple has also made some subtle redesigns; maracas have a different color pattern, while Apple’s version of the Wi-Fi symbol has fewer radio waves.
Fans might notice that the new batch doesn’t include a flag emoji – not just geographic flags, but also pride flags, language flags, and other color-based flags.
A decision to no longer make flag emoji was made by Emojipedia due to the “temporary nature” of many pride flags and the “challenges of including some identities and excluding others,” it said.
Emojipedia pointed out that there are far fewer emojis on this year’s draft list compared to previous years – just 31.
That compares to 112 in Emoji 14.0 from 2021, while Emoji 13.0 and Emoji 13.1 from 2020 together contain 334 (117 and 217, respectively).
Overall, this year’s list can be considered less “progressive” compared to previous years.
Emojipedia caused some controversy in 2021 when it endorsed a “pregnant man” emoji to show that “pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people.”
Pictured, the sample images from Emojipedia revealed last year. Apple’s own versions are more detailed and realistic
Men get pregnant in real life as well as in fiction, Emojipedia argued, citing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in the 1994 film “Junior” as an example.
Looking ahead, the next batch of emoji, version 16.0, will likely be unveiled in the summer and approved in September before being released in 2024.
To qualify, the candidate emoji must have multiple uses, be used in sequences, be groundbreaking, be distinctive, be compatible and be used frequently, according to Unicode Consortium.
In the past, Emojipedia has previously revealed new emoji around the time of World Emoji Day – July 17 – so it’s likely they’ll be announced then.