Apple and Samsung have expanded their emoji library this year with the introduction of eight new emojis, thanks to the releases of iOS 18.4 and One UI 7. Among these new emojis are a face with bags under its eyes and a splatter, but what do these emojis, along with the thousands of others, truly signify? While emojis like 😃 or ❤️ are universally understood, the meanings of emojis like 😩 and 😭 can vary significantly. Additionally, sending food emojis such as 🍆 or 🍑 can lead to confusion. Over time, the meanings of emojis have become increasingly subjective, influenced by the context of the message and broader cultural trends. How do you determine which shaking smiley face to use? Is there a difference between the various colored hearts? And does the peach emoji still represent fruit? This comprehensive guide will help you decipher the meanings of all 3,790 emojis and explore what new emojis could be on the horizon.
To navigate the complex world of emojis, Emojipedia serves as an invaluable resource. This online encyclopedia specializes in emoji research and categorizes them into nine distinct groups, including categories like Smileys, People, Objects, Activity, and more. Each category is further divided into specific subsections. For instance, navigating to the Smileys category reveals sections like Smiling & Affectionate and Sleepy & Unwell. When you click on an individual emoji, Emojipedia provides a concise description that clarifies its meaning and usage.
Take the ✨ sparkles emoji, for example. Emojipedia describes it as commonly used to express positive sentiments such as love, happiness, beauty, gratitude, and excitement. It can also signify cleanliness or newness and may be employed sarcastically. Furthermore, each emoji entry on Emojipedia suggests compatible emojis that pair well with it. For instance, the 🎁 wrapped gift emoji works harmoniously with the 🥳 partying face and 🛒 shopping cart emojis, enhancing your messaging experience.
While you may have your personal favorite emojis, according to Emojipedia, the most popular emojis as of early July include:
❤️ Red heart ✅ Check mark ✨ Sparkles 🔥 Fire 😭 Loudly crying face 😂 Face with tears of joy ⭐ Star ☀️ Sun 😊 Smiling face 🫶 Heart handsIn September, Google unveiled Emoji 16.0, which introduced eight new emojis, including:
Face with bags under eyes Fingerprint Splatter Root vegetable Leafless tree Harp Shovel Flag of SarkApple incorporated these emojis into its iOS 18.4 update in March, while Samsung rolled them out with One UI 7 in April, and WhatsApp introduced them in January.
Anyone can propose a new emoji idea, and the Unicode Standard is responsible for approving new emojis. In November 2024, Unicode proposed nine new emojis, including a Sasquatch and an orca. However, these proposals are subject to approval, with Unicode set to announce which emojis will be added next in September.
For users interested in custom emojis, Apple launched its emoji generator, Genmoji, during WWDC 2024. This feature is currently available only to those with an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, or devices from the iPhone 16 lineup. If you lack access to Genmoji, Emojipedia also offers two custom emoji generators. The first is an AI emoji generator that allows users to create unique emojis based on descriptive text. Users can generate up to three emojis per day, making it essential to be as detailed as possible in your description.
The second tool, the Emoji Mashup Bot, lets you combine two emojis from the Twemoji set. This option is unlimited but limited to selecting from a set of 113 different smiley emojis, which may restrict your creativity compared to the AI generator.
In addition to its extensive resources, Emojipedia hosts the World Emoji Awards every year on World Emoji Day, celebrated on July 17. Categories include Most Popular New Emoji and Most Anticipated Emoji, with winners determined by popular vote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Notably, the winner for Most Popular New Emoji in 2024 was the head shaking horizontally emoji (🙂↔️), followed by the vertical variant (🙂↕️) and the phoenix emoji (🐦🔥). The Most Anticipated Emoji award went to the face with bags under its eyes, while the melting face (🫠) claimed the Most 2024 Emoji award for the second consecutive year. The sparkles emoji (✨) also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024 for its enduring popularity since 2015.
In 2023, the pink heart emoji (🩷) was the most popular emoji, with the shaking face (🫨) as the runner-up. The most anticipated emoji award for that year was again awarded to the head shaking horizontally emoji (🙂↔️).
