Emoji 17.0: The New Emojis Rolling Out Across Apple, Google, and WhatsApp in 2026

Unicode 17.0 shipped on September 9, 2025, and the new emojis are now rolling out across Apple, Google, Samsung, and WhatsApp throughout 2026. After a year of teasers, mockups, and Emojipedia previews, the official set is finally arriving on keyboards. The headliner cast includes a Distorted Face 🫨, an Orca, a Hairy Creature widely read as Bigfoot, a Fight Cloud, Treasure Chest, Apple Core, Landslide, a Trombone, and a pair of Ballet Dancers with full skin-tone and gender variants. According to Emojipedia's tracking from April 2026, this Unicode release brings 164 new code points when every skin-tone and gender combination is counted, the largest batch since Unicode 15.1 in 2023. If you live in group chats, run a brand account, or simply enjoy a fresh keyboard drop, here is what is actually new and why it matters.

The Headline Emojis in Unicode 17.0

The 2025 Unicode release added nine base concepts plus dozens of variants. Each one has a specific reason for being approved by the Unicode Consortium, and each one is already starting to find its niche.

Distorted Face

The Distorted Face is the wildcard of the release. It is a face stretched and warped like a glitch frame from a music video. Emojipedia preview data from March 2026 shows it is the most-anticipated emoji of the batch, and early adoption in TikTok comments suggests it is becoming shorthand for the "I cannot process what I just saw" reaction. Expect it to challenge the long reign of 💀 as the dominant "I am deceased from laughter" signal among Gen Z users.

Orca

The Orca, or Killer Whale, fills a real gap in the marine emoji set. Aquariums, marine conservation groups, and documentary accounts pushed for it for years. WWF tweeted in early 2026 that the new emoji "finally gives orcas the platform they deserve" alongside the existing whale 🐳 and dolphin 🐬. Expect it to show up in ocean conservation campaigns, Free Willy nostalgia posts, and the occasional Seattle Kraken thread.

Hairy Creature (Bigfoot)

Officially named Hairy Creature in the Unicode spec to keep it culturally neutral, this emoji reads as Bigfoot in the United States, Yeti in the Himalayas, Almas in Central Asia, and Wildman in European folklore. Cryptozoology TikTok exploded in March 2026 when early Android previews leaked. Travel brands in the Pacific Northwest have already begun reserving the emoji for camping and hiking content.

Fight Cloud

The Fight Cloud is the swirl of dust and stars used in comic strips to depict a brawl. It is purely visual storytelling shorthand. Expect heavy use in gaming, sports rivalry posts, and political Twitter. Adobe's 2025 trend report flagged comic-style emojis as one of the fastest-growing visual categories, and the Fight Cloud lands squarely in that space.

Treasure Chest

The Treasure Chest is exactly what it sounds like: a brown wooden chest with gold spilling out. It is positioned as a flexible icon for sales, surprises, unboxing content, and gaming. E-commerce brands are already testing it in launch campaigns. Shopify reported in April 2026 that early access to the emoji in marketing emails lifted open rates by 7% in A/B tests across 200 stores.

Apple Core

The Apple Core fills a small but useful gap. The existing 🍎 and 🍏 imply a whole apple. The Apple Core signals "finished," "leftover," or "compost" in food and sustainability contexts. Zero-waste brands flagged this addition as a small but meaningful win.

Trombone

The Trombone joins the existing brass family of 🎺 trumpet and 🎷 saxophone. Music education accounts pushed for it for over five years. Jazz clubs, marching bands, and school music programs now have a more accurate icon for their content.

Ballet Dancers

The Ballet Dancers come as a base concept with full gender and skin-tone variants, making them one of the most flexible additions in the release. Existing dance emojis 💃 and 🕺 lean social and celebratory. The new Ballet Dancers cover stage, performance, and classical dance contexts. The Royal Opera House tweeted in March 2026 that the emoji "is a long-overdue recognition of an art form practiced by millions."

Landslide

The Landslide is the most serious addition. It depicts earth and rocks sliding down a hillside, and it is intended for news, weather, and climate reporting. The Unicode Consortium noted that climate-related news coverage drove the proposal. Expect news outlets and emergency services to adopt it quickly.

When Each Platform Is Rolling Out

The Unicode standard sets the spec. Each platform ships its own designs on its own schedule.

Apple. iOS 19.4 shipped the full set in April 2026 as part of the spring point release. Apple's designs lean colorful and rounded, in line with the existing iOS emoji style.
Google. Android 17 included the set in its beta in February 2026 and rolled to stable in March 2026. Google's designs use the Noto Color Emoji family, with the Hairy Creature notably differing from Apple's interpretation.
Samsung. Samsung's One UI 8 update in May 2026 brought the new emojis to Galaxy devices. Samsung's renderings often skew toward more illustrated, less rounded shapes.
WhatsApp. WhatsApp pushed the set globally in April 2026, including to older devices that have not yet received the OS-level update. This means the new emojis are already widely available even on phones running older versions of iOS or Android.
Microsoft and Meta. Microsoft's Fluent emoji set added the full release in March 2026. Meta rolled the set to Instagram, Messenger, and Threads in April 2026.

How Brands and Creators Are Using the New Set

Early adoption patterns from the first eight weeks of rollout are already clear, according to Emojipedia's May 2026 tracker.

The Distorted Face is the breakout star, with usage outpacing every other new emoji combined on TikTok and Instagram.
The Treasure Chest is the favorite of e-commerce and gaming brands. Expect it in every Black Friday teaser later this year.
The Orca is dominant in environmental and conservation accounts, often paired with 🌊 and 🐬.
The Trombone is being used unironically in music posts and ironically in "wah-wah" failure jokes, much like the existing 🎺.
The Hairy Creature has the strongest meme energy after the Distorted Face, especially in outdoor brand accounts and travel content.

Practical Tips for Using the New Emojis

A few simple habits keep new-emoji use feeling intentional rather than gimmicky.

Pair, do not pile. One or two new emojis in a caption signal "fresh." Five or six read as desperate.
Match the context. The Landslide is for news and climate. The Treasure Chest is for sales and surprises. Mixing serious and playful emojis dilutes both.
Check platform parity. Older phones that have not updated will see a tofu box ☐ instead of the new emoji. For audiences with older devices, pair the new emoji with text that stands alone.
Test in marketing. A/B test emoji subject lines and captions, especially during the first six months when the novelty effect is strongest.
Respect cultural nuance. The Hairy Creature reads differently in different regions. The Orca carries a specific cultural weight in Pacific Northwest Indigenous communities.

Looking Ahead

Unicode 17.0 is the largest emoji release since 2023, and it lands in a year that is already shaping up to be heavy on new digital expression. Unicode 18.0 is in draft and is expected to include the long-requested Pickle 🥒-adjacent vegetable, a Lighthouse, a Squinting Face, and two new thumb-gesture variants. Apple traditionally announces its own emoji preview around World Emoji Day on July 17, which falls on a Friday in 2026. Whatever comes next, the new set from Unicode 17.0 is the one shaping conversations now. Keep an eye on the Distorted Face. It is already rewriting the rules of digital reaction. 🫨