118 New Emojis Coming to iPhone and Android: Includes Foods, Animals, and Gender-Neutral Families

iPhone users now have exciting avenues for self-expression, thanks to the introduction of 118 new emojis featuring a phoenix, a shaking head, and representations of four gender-neutral families.

The emojis are part of the beta release of iOS 17.4, which is expected to launch this spring.

“It’s likely that the final public release of iOS 17.4 will come to users in March or April 2024,” said Keith Broni, 32, the editor-in-chief of the reference site Emojipedia.

According to Emojipedia, the emoji expansion pack, known as 15.1, which will also be accessible on Samsung and other devices, is “drawn from Unicode’s September 2023 recommendations.”

The update introduces “six brand new emoji concepts,” including a head shaking horizontally, a head shaking vertically, a phoenix, a lime, a brown mushroom, and a broken chain.

In its ongoing push for inclusivity, Apple introduces four gender-neutral family emojis with androgynous features in the iOS 17.4 beta. Additionally, existing family emojis are now colorless, stirring controversy.

“Instead of displaying colorful people emojis alongside one another, all of the family emojis now display different combinations of white silhouettes overlayed on a grey square icon,” Emojipedia explains.

Additionally, Six new people emojis with direction-specific variations, such as a person walking and a wheelchair-bound individual facing right, have been introduced. Each of these emojis includes all gender options and five skin tone modifier options, totaling 108 variations, as reported by Emojipedia.

Overall, these new emojis complement the previous update from September, which featured additions like a pink heart, a head-shaking smiley face, and representations of a moose and a goose.

It’s important to note that the appearance of emojis may vary slightly depending on whether the user is using an iPhone or Android device.