Guide to Decoding Every Emoji and September's Most Popular Emoji

In the digital world of communication, emojis have become an integral part of our daily conversations. This year, the Unicode Consortium is set to release new emojis as part of Unicode 17.0, scheduled to debut in September. Among these new additions are a distorted face and an orca whale, which will hit devices in 2026.

Apple and Samsung have already jumped on the bandwagon, releasing nine new emojis this year. Apple unveiled these emojis with iOS 18.4, while Samsung brought them to some devices with One UI 7 in April, and more devices since then. WhatsApp introduced these emojis to its app in January.

The new emojis include a face with bags under its eyes (🫩), splatter (🫟), and a harp (🪉). Apple's emoji generator, Genmoji, was unveiled at WWDC 2024 and can be accessed by iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max or devices from the iPhone 16 lineup. Google also unveiled Emoji 16.0 in September, which includes eight new emojis, including the face with bags under eyes (🫩).

Emojipedia, an online encyclopedia of emojis, is a valuable resource for understanding these new additions. Each emoji on Emojipedia has a brief description and a list of emojis that it works well with. The platform also provides information on the latest approved emojis, how to react to messages with emoji on iPhone, and how to use emoji instead of comments in Google Docs.

The Unicode Consortium is responsible for creating new emojis, and they typically approve new emojis once a year, usually in the fall. The AI emoji generator on Emojipedia can create custom emojis based on user descriptions, but users can only generate three emojis per day.

Emojis have evolved significantly over time, and their meanings have become more context-dependent. For example, the slightly smiling face can be seen as friendly, passive-aggressive, or even "internally dead" among younger users. The eggplant emoji shifted to a phallic symbol, illustrating how cultural usage shapes emoji meanings beyond their official Unicode definitions.

The World Emoji Awards, hosted by Emojipedia on World Emoji Day, July 17, celebrate the most popular emojis. In 2024, the head shaking horizontally (🙂‍↔️) won the Most Popular New Emoji. In 2025, the face with bags under eyes (🫩) won the Most Popular New Emoji, Most Anticipated Emoji, and the Melting face (🫠) won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The most popular emojis as of September, according to Emojipedia, include the Red heart (❤️), Check mark (✅), Sparkles (✨), Fire (🔥), Loudly crying face (🫶), Star (⭐), Face with tears of joy (😂), Smiling face (😊), and Heart hands (🫶).

In addition to the new emojis, Emojipedia also hosts the Emoji Mashup Bot, which combines two emojis from the Twemoji set and can be used multiple times. This feature adds a fun and creative twist to our digital conversations.

As we eagerly await the arrival of these new emojis, let's remember that emojis are more than just digital images. They are a reflection of our culture, emotions, and creativity, making our digital conversations more expressive and engaging.