Apple rolled out a group of emojis as part of its iOS 18.4 update, adding more symbols to the language that many smartphone fans use.
There are eight new animated icons in this update. Most of them are things you’d find in the real world, like a flag or a root vegetable, and there’s one new facial expression.
There had been clues about all but one of these emojis — the flag — coming to iPhones in 2025. Seven of them were expected to go up for approval by the emoji body Unicode Consortium some time in 2024.
Here are the emojis that came out in iOS 18.4 on Monday.
Jordan Hart/BI
The most easily identified new emojis are the shovel, the harp, a barren tree, a radish (or turnip), and the fingerprint. If you didn’t recognize the flag right away, you’re not alone. After some research, it appears to be the flag of Sark, an island off the coast of France in the English Channel.
The purple goo-like emoji is a little more ambiguous than its fellow new additions. I searched “splat” to locate it on my emoji keyboard, and it came up right away, so that’s one interpretation. It’s placed near artsy emojis, like the painter and a palette, and it also appears when “paint” is entered in the search bar.
As for the lone facial expression, the tired eyes suggest this is one to use when you’re feeling exhausted or overwhelmed.
Apple’s iOS update also made new languages available for Apple Intelligence, including French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese. Localized English for Singapore and India were also launched.
Just over a year ago, Apple added 118 new emojis in its iOS 17.4 update, including shaking heads and a slice of lime. Months later, in December 2024, it rolled out AI-generated icons called Genmojis as part of Apple Intelligence.
