Classic Noto Color Emoji Lives On As Google Debuts Emoji 18.0 Support
On the same day that Unicode 18.0 and Emoji 18.0 have been formally approved, Google has released its designs for the latest set of new emojis in its classic Noto Color Emoji font as well as its monochrome Noto Emoji font.
On the same day that Unicode 18.0 and Emoji 18.0 have been formally approved, Google has released its designs for the latest set of new emojis in its classic Noto Color Emoji font as well as its monochrome Noto Emoji font.
In fact, Google quitely made these designs available yesterday, a day before today's approval of Unicode 18.0 and Emoji 18.0.
You can view all the designs in this Noto Color Emoji font update here.
🖼️ Old Font, New Emojis
Less than a month ago, Google replaced Noto Color Emoji as the default emoji design set on Pixel devices, swapping it out for "Noto 3D," a complete volumetric overhaul of every emoji in the set, debuting on the Pixel 11 range.
Today, though, it's the older, flatter Noto Color Emoji font, alongside its monochrome Noto Emoji companion, that has been updated with support for the newly approved Emoji 18.0 recommendations.
That's despite this form of Noto Color Emoji technically no longer being the default set on Google's own flagship hardware.
Update: in their blog post on September 17, Google's Jennifer Daniel shared the below image of the new emojis in their Noto 3D design style:
That same blog post also states the following about Noto 3D:
They are rolling out across your favorite Google apps and Android including select devices from partners like Pixel, Nothing, Lenovo, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, realme, vivo, iQOO, HONOR, TECNO, Infinix, itel, Motorola.
However, even though Google has pushed Noto 3D forward as its newest showcase design set, Noto Color Emoji has been being actively update and kept current this year's new emoji release, and might well continue to do so for further updates in the future.
At the time of writing it is not known when Pixel 11 devices' Noto 3D emoji design set will receive support for Emoji 18.0 that has been made available via GitHub. It is possible that support will be first made available alongside the promised release of the raw .OBJ files of Noto 3D, which at the time of writing we believe has yet to occur.
🆕 New Emojis
The new emojis added in this update include:
- Cracking Face
- Leftward Thumb Sign (with skin tone support)
- Rightward Thumb Sign (with skin tone support)
- Monarch Butterfly, distinct from the non-specifying 🦋 Butterfly
- Pickle, distinct from 🥒 Cucumber
- Lighthouse
- Meteor, distinct from ☄️ Comet
- Eraser
- Net With Handle
As covered in our Unicode 18.0 write-up, three of these new additions exist specifically to unwind cases of design divergence that had built up around existing emojis:
- Pickle separates out from 🥒 Cucumber
- Meteor separates out from ☄️ Comet
- Monarch Butterfly separates out from 🦋 Butterfly
Google's own Noto Color Emoji designs for 🥒 Cucumber and 🦋 Butterfly were both cited as examples of this drift, and as such these designs have been revised in today's update.
Additionally, many other Noto Color Emoji designs have been updated to be more in line with the structural changes seen in Noto 3D.
You can view all the changes designs between this update and Noto Color Emoji's debut of Emoji 17.0 support here.
💻 Release
These new designs for Emoji 18.0 have been released via Google's Noto Color Emoji font page, meaning they're likely close to final and unlikely to see further revision before wider release.
At the time of writing, they have yet to appear on Google's Noto Color Emoji GitHub page or on Google's Gstatic servers, though that's expected in the near future.
Based on how Google handled last year's rollout of Emoji 17.0, it would have been expected these new emojis to reach Android devices and other Google platforms (including Chrome OS, Gmail, and YouTube) progressively from early 2027 onward.
However, given the launch of Noto 3D with the Pixel 11, it is currently unknown if this progressive rollout of the classic Noto Color Emoji set to Android devices and other Google platforms will continue as before, or whether some of these surfaces will eventually make the jump to Noto 3D instead.