Beta repertoire · one versioned fallback environment captured
New Emojis 2026: Emoji 18 Readiness Lab
Unicode's Emoji 18 beta chart currently lists nine base emoji and ten skin-tone variants. The Unicode 18 release is planned for 2026-09-16. This lab separates the official beta inventory from platform observations: an untested platform is labelled “not tested,” never guessed as supported or unsupported.
Published and reviewed 2026-07-27. Beta data is a work in progress; consult Unicode's final data files before production use. Download and reuse are governed by the research dataset terms.
Emoji 18 beta candidate inventory
The glyph shown below is whatever this browser and operating system render. It is not recorded as a test result until the environment and evidence are captured.
Cracking Face
U+1FAEB
Smileys & Emotion
breaking · crumbling · masking · resilience · reveal · tension · transformation
Leftwards Thumb Sign
U+1FAF9
People & Body
grip · left · neutral · point · that · this
+ 5 skin-tone variants
Rightwards Thumb Sign
U+1FAFA
People & Body
grip · neutral · point · right · that · this
+ 5 skin-tone variants
Monarch Butterfly
U+1FACC
Animals & Nature
caterpillar · change · fragile · hope · insect · metamorphosis · migration
Pickle
U+1FADD
Food & Drink
brine · condiment · cucumber · ferment · gherkin · relish
Lighthouse
U+1F6D9
Travel & Places
beacon · guidance · hope · light · maritime · navigation · signal
Meteor
U+1FA8B
Travel & Places
apocalypse · falling · fireball · gravity · rock · space · star
Eraser
U+1FA8C
Objects
correction · delete · drawing · erase · mistake · remove · undo
Net with Handle
U+1FA8D
Objects
catch · collect · mesh · trap
Platform and accessibility test matrix
These rows are intentionally explicit about missing evidence. “Not tested” means no conclusion. A result will move to rendered, fallback, or unsupported only after the named version, date, and screenshot or spoken-output record are stored.
| Platform | Environment | Test date | Status | Evidence note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | Current public iOS release | Not tested | not-tested | Requires a physical-device capture after Unicode 18 vendor artwork is available. |
| Android | Current public Android release | Not tested | not-tested | Requires a physical-device or official emulator image with shipping emoji fonts. |
| Windows | Current public Windows release and Segoe UI Emoji | Not tested | not-tested | Requires a Windows capture and a recorded font version. |
| macOS | macOS 26.5.2 (25F84), Apple Color Emoji through Chrome 150.0.7871.182 | 2026-07-26 | fallback | All nine base candidates displayed the same missing-glyph fallback in the captured Chrome session; this does not establish Safari or native-app behavior. View captured evidence. |
| Chrome | Google Chrome 150.0.7871.182 on macOS 26.5.2 (25F84) | 2026-07-26 | fallback | All nine base candidates displayed the same missing-glyph fallback. This is one versioned host-font observation, not a conclusion about Chrome on another operating system. View captured evidence. |
| Safari | Current stable Safari | Not tested | not-tested | Browser output depends on the host Apple Color Emoji version. |
| Current public mobile app release | Not tested | not-tested | Requires app-version-specific device captures. | |
| VoiceOver | Current public iOS/macOS screen reader | Not tested | not-tested | Requires recorded spoken-label output on a named OS version. |
| TalkBack | Current public Android screen reader | Not tested | not-tested | Requires recorded spoken-label output on a named Android version. |
| NVDA | Current stable NVDA on Windows | Not tested | not-tested | Requires recorded spoken-label output with browser and synthesizer versions. |
Methodology
- Record the physical device or virtual machine, operating-system build, emoji-font version where available, app/browser version, locale, colour mode, and test date.
- Paste each official code point from the versioned dataset. Do not substitute an image or a nearby released emoji.
- Capture the full candidate grid and a close crop. Mark rendered only when a recognisable candidate glyph appears; mark fallback for a generic box, replacement character, monochrome non-emoji glyph, or another fallback; mark unsupported when the app rejects or removes the sequence.
- For VoiceOver, TalkBack, or NVDA, record the spoken label verbatim, plus screen reader, browser/app, synthesizer, and OS versions. Silence and a generic “symbol” label are separate outcomes.
- Store evidence under a stable path, update the downloadable matrix, state limitations, and add a dated change-log entry. Never infer one platform's result from another.
Limitations and current interpretation
- Emoji 18 is beta material until Unicode publishes the final version.
- Unicode defines characters and data; vendors control artwork and rollout timing.
- A browser usually relies on the host operating system's emoji font, so browser and OS are not independent variables.
- A visible glyph is not proof that another app can transmit, search, or announce it accessibly.
- The captured Chrome-on-macOS environment produced fallback glyphs for all nine base candidates. Every other platform and assistive-technology row remains not tested.
Primary sources
Dataset terms and provenance
PasteMoji's downloadable candidate inventory and platform matrix are provided under the PasteMoji research dataset terms. Those terms cover PasteMoji's original compilation and observations without claiming ownership of Unicode characters or third-party glyph artwork.
Unicode-sourced names, code points, categories, and related data remain subject to the Unicode License v3 and the source-specific terms published by Unicode.
Change log and corrections
- — Added explicit machine-readable and visible dataset licensing and Unicode provenance terms.
- — Published the versioned beta candidate inventory, testing protocol, and explicit not-tested platform matrix.
Found a source or transcription error? Use the corrections process or email [email protected].