Honestly, if you’re like me, you probably use about five emojis on a loop. The "crying-laughing" face, the "sparkles," and maybe a random thumbs-up when you’re too tired to type "okay." But the iPhone new emoji update usually manages to sneak something in that changes the whole vibe of the group chat.
We just got the draft list for what’s coming next, and it is weirdly specific.
What’s in the new 2026 update?
The Unicode Consortium—basically the shadowy board of emoji judges—just dropped the draft list for Emoji 18.0. If these get the final green light in September, they’ll be hitting your keyboard in a future iOS update.
The biggest star of the show? The Pickle. People have been asking for a pickle for years. Up until now, we’ve been forced to use the 🥒 cucumber, which just doesn't hit the same when you're talking about a deli side or, well, a specific internet meme from a few years back. Along with our briny friend, we’re looking at a Meteor (perfect for when the day is going south), a Lighthouse, and a Monarch Butterfly.
Here is the quick rundown of the 9 new concepts:
- Squinting Face: For when you're skeptical or just forgot your glasses.
- Left and Right Thumbs: New directional gestures.
- The Pickle: Finally.
- Lighthouse: Very "guiding light" vibes.
- Meteor: For the impending doom of your inbox.
- Eraser: To symbolize all those mistakes we’d rather forget.
- Net with Handle: Good for bug catching or... awkward networking?
- Monarch Butterfly: A way more detailed version of the generic 🦋.
Why does it take so long?
You might be wondering why you can’t use the pickle today. It's a whole process. Unicode approves the idea of the emoji, but then Apple’s designers have to actually sit down and draw them in the "Apple style."
That’s why you see a delay. If these are finalized in late 2026, you probably won't see them on your screen until iOS 27.4 in the spring of 2027. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
The Genmoji factor
Wait. There’s a twist.
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While we wait for the "official" Unicode emojis, Apple has basically blown the doors off the whole system with Genmoji. This is part of Apple Intelligence (AI). Basically, if you want a "cat wearing a tuxedo eating pizza," you don't have to wait for Unicode to approve it in 2030. You just type the prompt and the iPhone builds it for you.
In the latest iPhone new emoji update cycles, specifically with iOS 26, Apple added the ability to mix emojis together. It’s like Google’s Emoji Kitchen but powered by on-device AI. You can combine a basketball and a trash can to make a "swish" emoji. Or, as Apple showed off recently, you can even use ChatGPT to style these creations into oil paintings or watercolors.
Is the "standard" emoji dead?
Not quite.
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Even though Genmoji is cool, standard emojis have one massive advantage: they work everywhere. If you send a standard 🥒 to someone on an ancient Android or an old Windows PC, they see a cucumber. If you send a Genmoji, it often gets sent as an image or a sticker.
There is still something satisfying about a "real" emoji that lives natively on the keyboard. It feels more... official.
What to do right now
If you’re desperate for new icons and don't want to wait for the pickle, make sure your phone is updated to at least iOS 26.4. This is the update where the previous batch of emojis—like the Bigfoot, the Orca, and the Distorted Face—actually started rolling out to the public.
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- Go to Settings.
- Tap General.
- Hit Software Update.
If you're already on the latest version, try playing with the search bar in your emoji keyboard. Sometimes the iPhone new emoji update adds new "searchable" keywords for old emojis that you never knew existed.
Also, keep an eye on your Apple Intelligence settings. If you have a newer iPhone (15 Pro or later), you should have access to the Genmoji tools. If you don't see them, you might need to join the waitlist in the Settings app under "Apple Intelligence & Siri."
The pickle is coming. The meteor is coming. Until then, we’ll just have to keep using the "face with bags under eyes" to describe how we feel about waiting.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your iOS version to see if you have the Unicode 17 set (Bigfoot, Orca, etc.) which arrived in early 2026.
- Open Messages, tap the emoji icon, and try typing a weird description like "poodle on a surfboard" to see if your Genmoji access is active.
- If you're a developer or a beta-tester, look for the iOS 27 developer previews starting in June 2026 to get an early glimpse of the pickle in the wild.