iOS 18 adds fresh emojis that say what words can’t. From grossed out to guilty, here’s every new one and how it fits into your texts.

Apple's iOS 18.4 update adds a new selection of emoji, enhancing expressive options for iPhone users with images that include a weary-looking face, a shovel and the flag of Sark.

For more on iOS 18, here's what you need to know about iOS 18.3 and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also check out how to decipher every emoji. First published on March 4, 2025 at 2:56 p.m. PT.

Apple has included a number of new emoji in the iOS 18.4 developer beta, with characters proposed by the Unicode Consortium in May 2024 finally making their way for use in Messages.

Chances are, you’ve seen the expression in an anime and know this emoji is all about the moments when you’re not sure if you should be laughing, or if who you’re talking to will laugh along.

Apple typically adds new sets of approved emoji to a .X release of iOS, so it’s unlikely we’ll see any of these additions in September’s initial iOS 18 release.

If past practice is followed again, Apple won’t release the new emoji with the first version of iOS 18. Instead, we should expect them to arrive in a future version, such as iOS 18.3 or iOS 18.4.

Apple will likely add the new characters sometime around March 2025, around when iOS 18.4 comes out. Apple last introduced new emoji with the iOS 17.4 update that was released in March 2024.

Apple released its iOS 17.4 update for the iPhone on Tuesday. The update includes many new emoji, including a phoenix, shaking heads, and gender-neutral families.

The iOS 17.4 beta released on Thursday, Jan. 25 introduced 118 new emoji. The colorful new icons are only available to iPhone developers right now, but the rest of us will get them soon.

An Apple spokesperson said in an email that you’ll also be able to peel and stick emoji stickers on messages, photos, documents, and more. iOS 17 will be available this fall.

Last January, the Apple emoji factory upset some people online after churning out a new batch of emoticons for the new iOS 15.4, which included a pregnant man. The most divisive addition seemed to ...