You might finally get to high-five in emoji

A moose, a donkey, and a pair of maracas; this is not the start of a bad joke but rather some of the emojis that may be coming soon to a smartphone near you.

Emojipedia is previewing Emoji 15.0 which is a group of 31 emojis that are in the running to be added to the massive catalog. This particular group doesn’t really have a cohesive theme but is more of a filling-in-the-gaps. Some were highly requested, like the pink heart, while others appear to serve a larger function. For example, you can use the new Pushing Hand emoji instead of Folded Hands to simulate a high-five. 

The emoji zoo is also expanding to include a goose, crow, and jellyfish while a ginger root and pea pod are being added to the digital menu. The miscellaneous category includes a shaking face emoji, a wing, a Wi-Fi signal, the Khanda, which is a religious symbol for the Sikh faith, and a flute. 

From this preview, the emoji will be judged by the Unicode Consortium before officially rolling out. A council of elders handpicking emojis may sound silly, but if you look at their bylaws document, it makes sense why they need to exist. Essentially, the group establishes a universal standard for emojis that’ll work on every major operating system and app across the internet.

The final list of Emoji 15.0 will be released this September where the world will see who's getting the thumbs up and who's being thrown out. According to Emojipedia’s estimated timeline, the developers expect Google and Android platforms to be the first to adopt the new emojis starting October 2022. And starting January 2023, Apple, Samsung, Twitter, and Facebook are expected to do the same. Emojipedia states these dates are based on estimates from the previous year, so they may change. Some platforms may adopt much later or earlier than before.

While you wait for the final selection, Emojipedia is asking users to participate in a survey as part of World Emoji Day on July 17. First, the developers would like to know which of the new emoji are you most excited about (we chose the shaking face). And on Twitter, they’re holding a double-elimination tournament for the emoji that best represents 2022.

Emoji Trivia

Also in the announcement, Emojipedia revealed some interesting emoji trivia and statistics. 

Emoji usage hit an all-time high in 2022. According to Emojipedia's numbers, 22 percent of Tweets have had at least one emoji in them before hitting the peak in June 2022. They also revealed that Face with Tears of Joy was the most used emoji since 2011 until it was usurped by Loudly Crying Face in March 2021. Since then, the two have engaged in a back and forth for global supremacy. As of this writing, Loudly Crying Face is the king of the emoji world.

If you’re still hungry for more emoji news, we recommend you check out the latest news on Slack users running into trouble using inappropriate emojis.