Apple iOS 14.5 gets cheeky new emoji in massive update 🎧

Anyone on the Apple iOS 14.5 beta 2 will be enjoying some new Emoji that will appear for everyone when the operating system rolls out in the coming months. They include a load more tweaks that allow users to match their emoji skin tone to their own or to select beards irrespective of gender. This latest update brings an additional 217 new Emoji to the list of 3,521 existing ideograms in the standard. 

Apple has also tweaked its headphone emoji to more closely represent the Airpods Max. This isn’t new, in older versions of iOS the headphone emoji was the trademark Apple earbuds. Apple moved away from that, picking a more generic look, but the new design is very obviously of its own project. 

There are three new smilies, exhaling face, spiral eye face (which feels very on-message for 2020 and 2021) and face in clouds, which in Apple’s version looks a little bit more like that little round face has been hitting a vape, and hard. Along with faces, there is also a new heart that’s on fire and a bandaged heart that’s presumably a result of being on fire. 

• Samsung Galaxy Note 21 FE breaks cover to bid farewell to the Note series
• Skullcandy is hot on Bose's heels with its new Active Noise Cancelling Hesh headphone range
• Google Pixel photo perks heading to other Android phones – but you have to pay

There’s a timely update too. The syringe, which is obviously going to be a part of millions of people’s lives this year, has had the blood removed from it. It’s now just a fluid-filled version that will likely jump to the top of the popularity charts fairly quickly. 

While Apple doesn’t get to decide on new Emoji, it does put its own spin on how they appear on its devices. The new additions are approved by Unicode and it’s then up to device manufacturers and operating system creators to include their own interpretations of them. Previously the company has tended to add them 6 months after they’re approved, but with delays due to coronavirus it’s releasing them in spring, rather than autumn this year. 

We should see the final version of  iOS 14.5 appear during February or perhaps early March. This update will also include Apple's new method for unlocking your iPhone while wearing a mask. 

Source: Emojipedia