Android and iOS will soon get 117 new emoji

Android and iOS users will be able to choose from 117 new emoji to bring their text messages to life. Both Google and Apple revealed their versions of the new emoji the day before World Emoji Day on Friday. The new emoji will hit Android 11 by Google and iOS 14 by Apple later this year.

The emoji additions, which were approved by Unicode as part of Emoji 13.0, include new animals (such as bison, beaver, and polar bear) and food and drink (such as tamale, booby tea, and kettle). You’ll also find a slightly smiling face, two people hugging each other, a veiled man, a woman in a tuxedo, and a person feeding a baby.

Google said that some of its past animal emoji have been redesigned, in some cases to look a bit friendlier, and in others to look better in dark mode.

Google will also launch a quick access emoji bar to Gboard beta on Thursday and to all Gboard Android users in the coming months.

The exact date is not clear for the release of updated Apple and Google mobile operating systems.

A Google presentation to developers earlier this month seemed to suggest it would be September 8th, but Google did not confirm that this is true. Last year’s release of Android 10 was in early September.

Apple is expected to launch iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and MacOS Big Sur in the fall.