What Are the New Emojis in iOS 18.5?
Apple's iOS updates don't just bring performance tweaks and security patches — they often quietly expand the emoji keyboard too. If you've noticed unfamiliar icons appearing in your Messages or keyboard after updating, you're not imagining it. iOS 18.5 follows Unicode and Emoji standards that periodically introduce new characters across all platforms.
Here's a clear breakdown of what's new, how emoji updates actually work, and why what you see may differ from what someone else sees.
How Apple Adds New Emojis to iOS
Apple doesn't invent emojis from scratch. New emojis are approved by the Unicode Consortium — the organization that standardizes text characters across operating systems and devices. Once a new emoji set is approved under a Unicode Emoji version, Apple typically implements those characters in a subsequent iOS release.
iOS 18.5, released in spring 2025, includes support for Emoji 16.0, the latest approved emoji standard at the time. This is the same batch of characters that other major platforms — Android, Windows, and web browsers — are rolling out across their own updates.
The New Emojis Added in iOS 18.5 🎉
Emoji 16.0 is a relatively focused update, adding a small but meaningful set of new characters. The additions confirmed under this version include:
New standalone emojis:
- 🫏 Harp — a classical stringed instrument, filling a notable gap in the music category
- Shovel — a practical outdoor and gardening tool
- Fingerprint — a security and identity symbol with obvious relevance in the digital age
- Leafless tree — a bare tree, expanding weather and seasonal expression
- Root vegetable — a general depiction of root crops like turnips or beets
- Splatter — an abstract paint-splatter or impact shape
- Flag: Sark — a regional flag for the island of Sark in the Channel Islands
Face and people additions:
- Face with bags under eyes — relatable exhaustion, distinct from existing tired-face emojis
- Worried face with sweat drop — a more anxious variation on existing expressions
- Head shaking horizontally — a "no" gesture without needing words
- Head nodding vertically — a "yes" gesture, completing the pair
Multi-skin-tone and family variations are also expanded in this update, giving users more combination options for certain hand gestures and people emojis.
Note: Emoji names and appearances can vary slightly across sources during rollout. Apple applies its own visual design to each character, so the final look on your iPhone may differ from how the same emoji renders on Android or Windows.
Why You Might Not See All of Them Yet
Seeing a new emoji depends on more than just updating iOS. A few variables affect your experience:
Your iOS version matters most. Emoji 16.0 support requires iOS 18.5 or later. If you haven't updated, you won't see the new characters — they may appear as blank boxes or question marks when received from someone who has.
The sender's platform matters too. If someone on an older Android version or an unupdated iPhone sends you a new emoji, your device may receive the character code but display it as a placeholder. Conversely, if you send a new emoji to someone on an older OS, they may see a box instead.
App support isn't always instant. Third-party keyboards and messaging apps outside of Apple's default Messages app may take time to fully render or offer the new emoji set. Native Apple apps like Messages, Mail, and Notes will support them immediately after updating.
Emoji appearance varies by platform. The "fingerprint" emoji on iOS will look distinctly different from the same character on Samsung's Android skin or on Google's Pixel interface. Same Unicode point, different artwork.
What Changes for Different Types of Users
How meaningful this update feels depends heavily on how you use emoji day-to-day.
Casual texters will mostly notice the new face expressions — the exhausted face with bags under eyes and the head-shaking/nodding emojis are highly usable in everyday conversation and fill expression gaps that many users have worked around with less precise alternatives.
Creative and professional communicators working in content, social media, or digital design may find the splatter, fingerprint, and leafless tree more relevant — they expand the visual vocabulary for abstract and thematic storytelling.
International users gain a meaningful addition with the Sark flag, though regional flag emoji coverage remains uneven across the Unicode standard overall.
Developers and designers building apps or platforms that render emoji should note the new Unicode code points and update any emoji picker libraries or font assets they're using, since Emoji 16.0 characters will increasingly appear in user-generated content.
The Variable Nobody Controls: Timing
Even after updating to iOS 18.5, there's a soft rollout reality to accept: the people you communicate with may not have updated yet. Until Emoji 16.0 is widely adopted across Android, older iOS versions, Windows, and messaging platforms, the new characters will occasionally render as blank boxes or plain text in mixed conversations.
This isn't unique to iOS 18.5 — it's the normal friction period that follows every emoji update cycle. Adoption typically spreads over six to twelve months as users update their devices and app developers patch their rendering engines.
How disruptive that is — and how much the new additions matter to you — depends on who you're messaging, what platforms they're on, and which of the new emojis actually fit your communication style.