Squinting Face, Pickle, and Lighthouse Among New Emoji Coming to iOS

[MacRumors]

The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026.

Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a meteor, an eraser, and a net with a handle. The draft list also includes a monarch butterfly emoji, providing a more specific alternative to the existing generic butterfly.

Along with the 9 new emoji concepts, Emoji 18.0 would (if approved as currently proposed) add 10 additional skin tone variants tied to two of the base emoji. This would bring the total number of recommended emoji characters close to 4,000.

Emojipedia has shared sample artwork for many of the candidates, but Apple designers will need to create their own version of each character in the Apple style if the emoji are ultimately approved. As with previous draft lists, the proposed lineup is not final and may change during Unicode's review process.

Apple will need to roll out its own versions of the new emoji through software updates, so the new characters would likely arrive on iPhone in late 2026 or early 2027, as part of iOS 27.

Apple has consistently adopted new Unicode emoji in past software releases, and previously announced Unicode 17 additions are expected to come to Apple devices with the release of iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, macOS 26.4, watchOS 26.4, and visionOS 26.4 in March or April this year.

Article Link: Squinting Face, Pickle, and Lighthouse Among New Emoji Coming to iOS

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Apple needs to add an actual AirPods emoji!

Right now, when you type in AirPods into the emoji search bar, it gives you this 🎧for AirPods - so it would be nice for Apple to add an emoji that resembles actual AirPods! Not just the AirPods Max

 

[Octothorpe]

That pickle is going to break the Internet.

 

[erinsarah]

About time. I’ve been trying to tell the people of this country that if they squint really hard they can see the light from the lighthouse and get out of our current pickle by capturing this would-be monarch in a net or just waiting for a meteor to crash into the earth and erase all existence, but I had trouble forming the thought through emoji until now.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

That pickle is going to break the Internet.

Wubba Lubba Dub Dub

 

[Square-Eyes]

I don’t really get why we can’t yet rotate / flip emojis, that’s like only 2 extra bits of information?

 

[Avidos1]

innovations my arse…..

Do we actually need more emojis or is this all apple have left to give these days

 

[lipnorth]

Hopefully not final design those emojis are ugly (especially squint face). The Pickle will quickly become my fav combined with a donut.

 

[rictus007]

I hope there’s a day in which the Unicode consortium decide that we have too many emojis.

 

[_apple_apple_]

I don’t really get why we can’t yet rotate / flip emojis, that’s like only 2 extra bits of information?

I was wondering about this the other day. Pretty sure there's already control characters that change writing direction and such, for other languages where you have to stack symbols together. It's not unprecedented.

Agreed that the pickle one will be very popular. It always amazes me what basic ideas don't have an emoji yet, like eraser. Squinting eyes will also be popular.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Still no lawnmower, ride-on lawnmower or secateurs or shears or chainsaw. And bring back the gun, stop trying to censor reality. Just as the knife emoji isn’t a fluffy toy knife, the gun emoji should look like a real gun. Squirting gun emoji can also exist.

 

[mark-in-mk]

That Pickle is going to take a lot of business from Egg Plant / Aubergine.

 

[CyberGene]

No matter what they create, the “pregnant male” emojis, in all their colorful forms, will always be a hit!🫃🏻🫃🏾

 

[jimothyGator]

Poor eggplant. It’s about to be forgotten.

 

[Line_Noise]

The meteor really captures the zeitgeist.

 

[Billy_Bob]

We can take comfort in knowing that, right now, there is a dedicated team of engineers at Apple Park working hard to prepare these emojis to be implemented with maximum Liquid Glass compatibility.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

No matter what they create, the “pregnant male” emojis, in all their colorful forms, will always be a hit!🫃🏻🫃🏾

Preferred when emojis were Simpsons-yellow and more focused on symbolism than ethnicity. More object focused.

 

[YankeeSR23]

innovations my arse…..

Do we actually need more emojis or is this all apple have left to give these days

Did you read the article?

There’s a consortium that makes a list and then Apple makes them. It’s not like Apple decides which ones to release. They get told the new ones and then make their versions of them.

 

[Digital Dude]

I can’t post how I really feel about some emojis, since the hand-slappers’ would send me a poison-pen email. ✍🏻

 

[Adam-Jobs]

Based off this. 2026 will be a great year for Apple.

 

[headlessmike]

Did you read the article?

There’s a consortium that makes a list and then Apple makes them. It’s not like Apple decides which ones to release. They get told the new ones and then make their versions of them.

The consortium is Unicode. Imagine a modern computer that didn't fully support Unicode in their operating system.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Preferred when emojis were Simpsons-yellow and more focused on symbolism than ethnicity. More object focused.

Wait, so by offering the option of something besides being the default yellow, it’s “focused on ethnicity?” How does that work?

 

[polyphenol]

On the basis of the image alone, how on earth would you know that was a pickle rather than a cucumber - especially now smaller cucumbers are very common?

I tend to think of onions if anyone mentions pickled vegetables, or beetroot, or even ginger. If that is meant to be a pickled member of the cucumber family, it would be better called gherkin or cornichon.

 

[HaHaRich!]

I was wondering about this the other day. Pretty sure there's already control characters that change writing direction and such, for other languages where you have to stack symbols together. It's not unprecedented.

Agreed that the pickle one will be very popular. It always amazes me what basic ideas don't have an emoji yet, like eraser. Squinting eyes will also be popular.

I wonder what the process is like to propose suggestions like this to the Unicode Consortium 🤔

 

[jimothyGator]

On the basis of the image alone, how on earth would you know that was a pickle rather than a cucumber

Lick your screen.