2017 emoji update: giraffes, genies and gender inclusion

We’re still three months out from the next big emoji release – but if you’re dying to see which icons are new for 2017, Emojipedia has your back.

The online directory of all things emoji has posted a full list of mock-up images for the 69 new pictures and symbols that will hit your device this June. Emoji 5.0 designs are yet to be finalised, and the candidates themselves may be subject to change, but it’s a pretty good indication of what to expect from the next generation of tiny in-text images.

Emoji will continue to offer diverse options for faces and people, including a ‘woman in headscarf’ pic, new gender-inclusive faces, plus a breast-feeding woman – all available in varying skin tones. You’ll also get bearded men, a face with a monocle, a vomiting face, and a ‘swear’ smiley, complete with ‘&$!#%’ in place of expletives.

Mermaids, mages, and more

There’s also a focus on fantasy in Emoji 5.0, with several new supernatural-style characters coming on board. Illustrate your The Walking Dead group chat with male or female zombies, celebrate 20 years of Buffy with vampires, or pick from wizards (or ‘mages’), genies, elves, fairies, mermaids and mermen, or a UFO. 

Food and object options have also expanded, with the new selection including pie, a coconut, takeout classics including chopsticks and fortune cookies, clothing items such as gloves and socks, and – at long last – the humble sandwich.

Finally, there’s several new animal emoji available in the upcoming release, including two very cute stylised dinosaurs. Alongside the new T-Rex and Sauropod are an adorable hedgehog, zebra and giraffe faces, and a teeny tiny cricket.

Emoji 5.0 will be available sometime in June. Until then, you’ll have to make do with the current crop of faces and symbols, including the inexplicably weird, fedora-clad Levitating Business Man.

Tara Donnelly

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