The next wave of emojis is official, and it’s a crowd-pleaser: Bigfoot, an orca whale, and a treasure chest are among the newcomers approved by the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit that standardizes emoji across platforms. Expect the set to roll out to phones and apps over the coming year, as vendors ship updates that bring the icons to life in their own styles.
What’s in the new set
Anchoring the release are a trombone, a treasure chest, a bulging-eyes face, a classic cartoon-style fight cloud, an apple core, an orca whale, a gender-neutral ballet dancer, a landslide, and the long-rumored Bigfoot. The mix spans reaction faces, nature and science, activities, and objects—categories Unicode tries to balance each cycle based on user demand and proposal evidence.
Each addition fills a gap users have asked about for years. Bigfoot taps into cryptid lore and pop culture; orca offers a widely recognized marine mammal missing from emoji keyboards; and a treasure chest finally gives gamers, geocachers, and marketers a visual for rewards and reveals. Meanwhile, the trombone hands marching bands and music teachers a literal note to share.
More inclusive options for multi-person emojis
Unicode also expanded skin tone options for several multi-person emojis, including people with bunny ears dancing and people wrestling. This builds on earlier work that added mixed skin tone options for couples and people holding hands, and aligns with the Consortium’s ongoing inclusion efforts guided by CLDR (Common Locale Data Repository) naming and tagging conventions.
Why these picks matter
Emojis succeed when they reduce friction in everyday communication. A bulging-eyes face offers a snappy shorthand for shock or disbelief without typing a paragraph. Landslide can support safety updates and climate reporting. An apple core neatly signals “I’m done,” waste, or the end of a task, while the fight cloud humorously captures messy arguments or chaotic events without assigning blame.
Culturally, Bigfoot is more than a meme. It’s a regional icon across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, which means brands, sports teams, and tourism boards now get a versatile symbol with instant recognition. The orca addition arrives as marine conservation remains in the headlines, giving educators, aquariums, and activists a neutral, platform-consistent image to communicate programs and alerts.
How new emojis are chosen
Emoji proposals are reviewed by the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee and the Unicode Technical Committee under criteria laid out in UTS #51. Submissions must demonstrate expected, sustainable use (often via search data and corpus analysis), distinctiveness, and compatibility across platforms. Many icons debut as sequences or ZWJ combinations; others are new characters assigned code points. The result is a single standard that Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and others implement with their own artwork.
Rollout timing and platform support
After Unicode approval, vendors integrate the set at their own pace. Historically, major mobile platforms bundle new emojis with OS updates, while messaging apps sometimes ship support earlier. Expect staggered availability: one friend might see an orca while another gets a placeholder box until their device updates. Emojipedia typically publishes sample images and adoption trackers to help users and developers plan content.
Emoji by the numbers
There are now well over 3,700 standardized emojis in the Unicode system, according to Emojipedia analyses and Unicode data. Only a fraction of proposals make the cut each year, reflecting a shift from rapid expansion to targeted, high-impact additions. Usage remains concentrated: the face with tears of joy and red heart frequently top global charts, but niche icons—like musical instruments or wildlife—tend to enjoy long-tail relevance in education, fandoms, and local communities.
Practical examples and use cases
Marketing teams can pair the treasure chest with discount codes or product “unlock” moments. Newsrooms and public agencies get landslide for weather and infrastructure updates. Schools and arts organizations gain the trombone and ballet dancer for event notices. And yes, Bigfoot is primed for April Fools’ antics, outdoor recreation posts, or simply signaling “unverified but fun.”
What’s next
Watch for vendor design previews from major platforms and type foundries as they finalize art and accessibility labels. Content creators should update style guides with the new short names to keep captions screen-reader friendly. For everyone else, clear some keyboard space—Bigfoot, orca, and the rest are set to make your texts a little more expressive and a lot more specific.