130+ New Emoji (Some Reversible) Proposed for iOS 12
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Certain emoji on Apple devices could be reversible next year, allowing the characters to be flipped in one direction or the other.
The Unicode Consortium — the organization that develops the Unicode standard — has proposed new guidelines for the upcoming Unicode 11.0 standard, including a “mechanism” that would allow emoji that explicitly point toward the right or the left to face either direction, according to vendor preference. Presumably, this would allow users to customize their emoji’s direction before sending them.
In addition to the ability to reverse emoji, the Unicode Consortium also introduced a wide range of new emoji characters as candidates for the final release — about 130 in all — according to Emojipedia. They include a badger, swan, pirate flag, test tube, firecracker, softball, cupcake, bagel and fire extinguisher. Other proposed options are faces with red hair, faces that are bald, and faces with curly hairstyles or afros. There’s also a “Face With Smiling eyes and Party Horn and Party Hat.”
Sadly, while there is a roll of toilet paper emoji being proposed, the long-requested “Frowning Pile of Poo” doesn’t currently appear to be on the docket for 2018.
Of course, the guidelines are still a draft for Unicode 11.0 and the proposed Emoji 11.0 characters are currently in beta. They should be finalized by the time that the updated standard becomes available for tech companies to use in their software and devices, but not all of the new emoji could make the cut.
Apple, of course, uses the Unicode standard for its emoji, although the company maintains the final design decisions for the emoji used in its software. As such, the sample emoji in this article are subject to change by the time they’re released.
Unicode 11.0 is expected to be released in the second half of 2018, likely alongside Apple’s iOS 12 software update. Going by normal timelines, that means you should see these new emoji in September, October or November of 2018.