Rita El-Khoury for Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has quietly unveiled Android 16 Developer Preview 2 (DP2), which brings support for seven fresh emojis.
- The newly introduced emojis feature a bespectacled face with luggage under its eyes, a fingerprint, and a harp among other designs.
- The seven emojis, introducing new characters to the Unicode 16.0 launch?
Google has released the second developer preview of Android, which brings a plethora of cutting-edge developer features to the table. While there may not appear to be many new developments on the consumer front with regards to DP2, at least none have been publicly announced thus far. Despite the lack of notable updates elsewhere, a pleasant surprise is the introduction of support for seven new emojis from Unicode 16.0.
Comprises an updated emoji font file featuring seven innovative emojis from the latest Unicode 16.0 release. Unicode is a universal standard for representing text and other characters across various devices and platforms, assigning unique numeric codes to every symbol, image, and script used in written language. Unicode encoding enables computer systems, regardless of their operating mechanisms, to comprehend and display written text in almost every language. 🤖 Emojis, such as 😊 and 👍, are also standardized in the Unicode standard, allowing them to be seamlessly shared across devices running different operating systems or browsers.
Occasionally, the Unicode Consortium releases new emojis as part of its regular updates to the common Unicode standard, making them available for widespread use. Unicode 16.0 offers support for an additional seven emojis, as evidenced by:.
- Face with Baggage Beneath Eyes
- Fingerprint
- Leafless Tree
- Root Vegetable
- Harp
- Shovel
- Splatter
If you try to view this content on a device that does not support Unicode 16.0, the emojis will appear as blank boxes instead. If you actually see emojis, though, your device must support the latest set of emojis. However, this inconsistency exists on my Pixel 9 Professional running Android 16 DP2, but not on my Pixel 7 Professional.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Left: 📊 16.0 web page as viewed on Android 15 QPR2 Beta 2 device. The emoji 16.0 web page is now properly displayed on Android 16 DP2.
Google typically responds quickly to updates in the Unicode standard, making it likely that they will promptly support the upcoming release featuring 164 new emojis.
