Once a year, Unicode drops its annual update: thousands of new characters, new scripts, new symbols, and of course… new emoji. Today marks the release of Unicode 17.0, adding 4,803 characters (bringing the grand total to 159,801!). You can download Noto Emoji today and embed on your website but they’re not quite ready to keyboard smash (it will take some time before many of these reach our devices) let’s take a moment to bask in the glow of … Hairy Creature Hairy creature is one of those rare emoji that feels both universal and oddly specific. From Yowie to Yeren, Mapinguari to Almasty, nearly every culture has a story about an elusive, shaggy being. It works as a stand-in for folklore, outsider status, or for those of us who are not a fan of shaving — hairy creature is the stuff of legends. Distorted Face A familiar face for those of you who use Google’s Emoji Kitchen. Distorted faces show up everywhere from ancient masks to manga panels and face filters. This emoji captures discomfort, cringe, and awkward humor AlL In A singLE gLancE. Trombone You hear it as soon as you see it. “Womp-womp-wooooomp” has entered the chat. It’s part jazz band pride, part wet blanket, part ska pants. Orca The orca is an icon. Revered in Indigenous cultures and beloved in pop culture. As apex predators they carry the weight of power, their complex social lives and hunting strategies make them a symbol of intelligence, and their vulnerability to threats like pollution make them a powerful symbol for so much more. Treasure Chest The treasure chest is timeless: pirates, folklore, video games, even finance apps. It represents discovery, reward, and value—literal or metaphorical. As an emoji, it’s flexible enough for gaming victories, lost-and-found moments, or celebrating personal wins. Falling Debris From literal rubble (landslides/avalanches) to metaphorical collapse (political scandals) the flexibility of this emoji is its strength. Use it in serious moments of natural disaster coverage or use it dramatically when everything feels like it’s falling apart. Fight Cloud Shorthand for conflict, be it heated debates, sports rivalries, or playful sibling squabbles. As an emoji, it has both a serious and humorous side: It offers itself up as an escalation when the moment calls for it but also can also illustrate the silliness of it all when miscommunication is bringing the drama. But wait there’s more. These friends warrant a dedicated story time of their own so consider this a teaser for next week’s bloggy letter. For years, some emoji just didn’t support tones. To fix this, the Emoji Standard and Research Working Group had to revisit how these sequences were structured, update the rules for gender and tone application, and add entirely new ZWJ combinations. (If you want to dive deeper into this topic, check out an earlier post on adding multi-toned handshakes to our keyboards.) You’ll know Emoji 17.0 has landed on your keyboard when you can change the tone of these last two remaining multi-person emoji. This update brings a long-awaited fix: every emoji with exposed skin can now accept a tone, a first since the feature was introduced in 2015. This creates a consistent system, providing a stable foundation for future emoji keyboards to offer more personalized and intuitive experiences. When can you get these new emoji? A simple question that deserves a simple answer. Alas, you’re dealing with the internet so the answer is complex. One of the many reasons why emoji are so popular is because they “just work” e v e r y w h e r e and real human effort goes into making this happen, which takes time. So, don’t expect to see these characters anytime soon. The previous batch of emoji (fingerprint, harp, barren tree, etc.) just landed on your device earlier this year. They’re still new! Go play with them!! 🫩🫆🪾🫜🪉🪏🫟 And before you know it, hairy creature will be entering the group chat. 🫈 Want to help? Unicode’s mission is to ensure everyone can communicate in their languages across all devices. With the Holidays around the corner consider adopting a character as a gift or making a donation. Unicode, Inc. is a US-based open source, open standards, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, your contribution may be eligible for a tax deduction. Please consult with a tax advisor for details. 😘