Unicode 18.0 is the version of the Unicode Standard released on September 16 2026, with emojis added in this update expected to come to major platforms in late 2026 and throughout 2027.

Unicode 18.0 introduced a total of 13,007 new characters, of which 9 were new emoji code points. This brought the total number of characters encoded within Unicode to 172,808.

All the emojis recommended within Unicode 18.0 were also recommended as part of Emoji 18.0, which also featured 10 additional emoji sequences. These sequences provided skin tone support for the new 🫹 Leftwards Thumb Sign and 🫺 Rightwards Thumb Sign emojis.

A Face With Squinting Eyes emoji was initially proposed for inclusion in the Unicode 18.0 draft list in late 2025. However, in January 2026, it was removed from the Emoji 18.0 draft list, and the emoji’s provisionally assigned code point was reassigned to a newly recommended Cracking Face emoji.

Additionally, an  Apple Core, which was originally proposed for inclusion in Unicode 17.0 and was subsequently added to the Emoji 18.0 draft list in early 2025, was removed from the list in October 2025.