The Unicode Consortium, the group responsible for selecting the emojis that will be used across all of tech for consistency’s sake, has settled on the next 72.
Like with letters of the alphabet, emojis are a way we all communicate with one another. As such, all of our phones, laptops, tablets, etc need to have the same “letters” in them. That way, when we want to send a passive aggressive upside-down smiley to a friend who’s pissing us off, they receive it and (hopefully) understand the gesture. Enter The Unicode Consortium, who makes sure the message is received.
The new emoji, which are set to be released later this month*, include a clown, a cowboy, a Pinocchio-type liar, a pregnant woman, a person “rolling on the floor laughing,” a prince, and a girl taking a selfie. There are also lots of new food items to pick from including a kiwi, an avocado, a potato, a pickle, a peanut, a croissant, and pancakes. On the drink side of the menu there’s now a glass of whiskey, two champaign glasses clinking, and what looks like a glass of milk or water.
There’s also a black heart.
Check out the new emojis coming in 2016 below, and start working on new ideas for how to use them in your daily routine. We can’t wait to use some of those faces in Snapchat!
*While the Unicode Consortium plans to release them this month, don’t expect your iPhone or Android device to support the new emoji until later this year. Apple users will probably have to wait until the next version of iOS, which is expected to be released this September.
