Unicode announces 157 new emoji, including a lobster, pirate flag and loo roll

11 months ago

The gatekeepers of emoji, the Unicode Consortium, have just published their new emoji list which includes a mosquito, softball and flat shoes.

The Emoji 11.0 update will add 157 new emoji you may not have realised you needed, including mini legs, feet, teeth and microbe images.

In the objects category, you’ll be able to send a compass, bricks, skateboard and a suitcase.

The new range also brings ginger, bald, curly-haired and a new silver-haired update to the face emoji.

You’ll be able to send a variety of superheroes and super villains of different genders and skin tones.

Ever found yourself desperate to send a raccoon, llama, swan, hippo or badger emoji? Well soon you’ll be able to.

One particularly happy customer was Maine Senator Angus King, who had long advocated for a lobster, one of his state’s most famous exports, to join the emoji line-up.

He even wrote a letter to Unicode asking for it.

For traditional emoticon-esque face emoji, we’ll soon be able to send hot and cold smileys, a partying face, a pleading face, and something Unicode refers to as a “woozy face”.

For food lovers, there’ll be cupcake, mango, salt shaker and bagel emojis.

In the sports section, you’ll finally be able to send frisbees, a lacrosse stick and a softball.

Other miscellaneous new emoji are the abacus, thread spool, chess pawn and a nazar, or evil eye amulet.

Although the Unicode 11.0 release is scheduled for June, the Android and Apple variants probably won’t be on phones until August or September.

The Unicode Consortium is the independent standards body for the picture-based language, and accepts proposals for new emoji which are then approved by its emoji subcommittee.