Rejoice: New emojis are here!
On Tuesday, Apple released brand new emojis as part of iOS 11.1. There are 70 new characters, and 239 new emojis in total if you include skin tone and gender variations.
To get the new emojis on your own phone, open your settings app, tap “General,” then look for the second tab down titled “Software Update.” The option to update your iPhone to iOS 11.1 should appear there.
The new emojis are a long time coming: The characters were approved by the Unicode Consortium back in March, and the final list became public in June. Emojipedia has been covering all the new emoji updates this year, and has the full list of every emoji in every skin tone.
In honor of their arrival, we’ve compiled all the emoji contenders and ranked them from worst to best. The criteria for the ranking was pretty subjective – mainly, how they made us feel and whether we can actually see people using them in real life. There aren’t detailed explanations for most of the rankings, but we do offer a more in-depth analysis for the top 10 on this list.
Take a look:
70. Eject button
The eject button has been around for awhile, but it got a makeover in iOS 11.1. According to Emojipedia's Jeremy Burge, the eject button has always been there, but was rendered in black and white. Now, it will show up in Apple's color emoji font.
69. Bowl With Spoon
68. Canned Food
67. Billed Cap
66. Curling Stone
65. Gloves
64. Face With Open Mouth Vomiting
63. Brain
62. Socks
61. Cup With Straw
60. Chopsticks
59. Scarf
58. Sandwich
57. Sled
56. Cut of Meat
55. Broccoli
54. Grinning Face With One Large and One Small Eye
53. Child
52. Adult
51. Older adult
50. Coat
49. Flying Saucer
48. Star-struck
47. Merman
46. Serious Face With Symbols Covering Mouth
45. Coconut
44. Dumpling
43. Man Mage
42. Woman Mage
41. Man in Steamy Room
40. Woman in Steamy Room
39. Flag of England
38. Flag of Scotland
37. Flag of Wales
36. Man Climbing
35. Woman Climbing
34. Cricket
33. Zebra
32. Man Zombie
31. Woman Zombie
30. Man Fairy
29. Woman Fairy
28. Man Vampire
27. Woman Vampire
26. Man Elf
25. Woman Elf
24. Man Genie
23. Woman Genie
22. Man in Lotus Position
21. Woman in Lotus Position
20. Palms Up Together
19. Hedgehog
18. Sauropod
17. Fortune Cookie
16. Shocked Face With Exploding Head
15. Takeout Box
14. Pie
13. Face With Hand Over Mouth
12. Face With One Eyebrow Raised
11. Giraffe
10. Bearded Person
Emoji of the past have been mostly clean-shaven, but this bearded gentleman is the first of his kind. We now finally have an emoji to better represent hipsters, lumberjacks, and Ryan Gosling.
9. Face With Finger Covering Closed Lips
This emoji for keeping a secret is not only very cute, it will come in handy more often than you'd think. Planning a surprise party? Spreading some hot gossip? Use this emoji to make sure everyone knows to keep it on the down-low. We predict that this emoji will quickly be used in heavy rotation.
8. Person With Headscarf
Emoji have started to become more inclusive over the years, but this is the first time a person wearing a headscarf has been included. Hooray for emoji diversity!
7. Breast-feeding
Good news for new moms: There's now a symbol for breastfeeding. This emoji is an encouraging sign that society's attitude toward public breastfeeding is evolving.
6. Mermaid
Mermaids have captivated our imagination for centuries, and emoji are finally catching up. This Ariel-like emoji is not only cute, it's incredibly detailed (look at her scaly tail and highlighted hair!). Plus, this mermaid has is as close as we're going to get to a redhead, which is a hair color that's been missing since an update in 2015.
5. T-Rex
The T-Rex is hands-down the coolest dinosaur, making it one of the coolest new emoji. Use this to frighten your enemies or remind your friends that they shouldn't mess with you.
4. I Love You Hand Sign
This sign-language symbol for "I love you" is not only heart-warming, it's useful. It'll save you from typing out those eight letters, and it gives you a nice alternative to sending hearts and hug emojis to your loved ones. Hopefully this is the first of many ASL symbols added to emoji.
3. Orange Heart
Syracuse fans have been in need of an orange heart for years. While we've made do with the orange fruit emoji, an orange heart is about to take our fandom to the next level.
2. Pretzel
Pretzels are delicious, yet highly underrated in the snack food community. Plus, this appears to be a hot pretzel, which is even better. Thank goodness this salty snack is finally getting the appreciation it deserves.
1. Face With Monocle
When I first checked out the new emojis back in March, the pretzel came in at No. 1. But now that I actually have the new characters on my phone, I'm revising my ranking to put monocle man in first place. I'm not sure how much I'll use this little guy, but he sure is cute.