The internet gets nine new emojis soon. They won’t hit your keyboard until next spring, but Unicode revealed the batch just ahead of World Emoji Day. It’s July 17. If you don’t know why, check your calendar app emoji. The 17th is there. A happy face next to it. That’s the joke.
These nine additions fill gaps that feel impossible to ignore now.
What emoji are being added in 2026
You will soon be able to type a lighthouse. Also an eraser. Left and right thumbs. A pickle. A meteor. A net with a handle. A monarch butterfly. A cracked smiling face.
Some of these should have existed longer. An eraser? We’ve all needed one digitally. The thumb signs are specific, yes. They help pro wrestling fans depict Rob Van Dam’s signature pose. Put them together. It works.
Then there’s the pickle. It is phallic by design. It will likely be used for sexting. You knew it was coming.
The cracked smiling face is different though. It feels heavy. The line on the face breaks. It sums up the mood perfectly. Jennifer Daniel, who chairs the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee, called it out in her Did Someone Say Emoji? newsletter. She said this one arrived late to the party compared to its peers. It wasn’t even in the original proposal this way. It started as a Smiley Face with Squinty Eyes. They changed it.
Why does the cracked smile win? Maybe because the world looks a bit like it. Or maybe just because it’s visually loud. It follows the Hairy Creature emoji, or Bigfoot, which stole the show in the 2025 drop.
Which emoji look familiar but are new
Don’t scroll your keyboard looking for a pickle yet. You’ll only see a cucumber. Close enough, until spring. Same for the butterflies and space rocks.
You have a Morpho butterfly now. It is blue. Generic, in a way. The new Monarch Butterfly is distinct. Orange. Black stripes. Actual majesty.
Then space. The existing Comet looks like a blue streak flying through the dark. Fast. The new Meteor is a flaming rock. Like a meatball on fire. Visual clarity matters when you are trying to say “rock fell from sky” versus “shooting star.”
Unicode wants them to look different so you don’t pick the wrong one by accident.
The Net with a Handle sits alone. Sports fans might like it. Gardeners? Maybe.
“The new emoji class of 2.026 brings necessary precision,” Daniel noted, highlighting the visual separation from existing icons.
When do the new emoji arrive
Spring next year. Not now. You have to wait.
That delay is the real joke of the cracked face. It drops in 2026 to summarize 2026. Then 2027. Then 2028. The timeline extends. The crack stays.
It fits.
Will you use the lighthouse? Probably. To mean you see the light. Or just to decorate a vacation photo.
The eraser might delete old messages. Or old ideas.
None of these are mandatory. They are options. Tools.
What will you delete first?
