WhatsApp, Windows Test New Emoji Support
Emoji release schedules on various platforms has now spread out so far that Windows 10 is testing draft emoji candidates for 2019 at the same time that WhatsApp is releasing the new emojis from 2018.
Just over a week ago, Apple released iOS 12.1 with support for the 2018 emoji list known as Emoji 11.0. A few days later, WhatsApp released a beta (version 2.18.338) with its versions of the Emoji 11.0 list for Android.
💬 WhatsApp (beta) has begun testing Emoji 11.0 support on Android. As with previous releases iOS uses native Apple emojis, so supports the new emojis with iOS 12.1 and above
— Emojipedia 🦃 (@Emojipedia) November 2, 2018
h/t @WABetaInfo pic.twitter.com/M0nDxPJP6T
Unlike most Android apps, WhatsApp uses its own designs on the platform rather than using Google's emoji set.
Support is a bit patchy, but mostly intact. For example, the bald emojis don't support more than one skin tone, and there doesn't appear to be support for the ♾️ Infinity emoji in the current release. These are common types of issues to expect in a beta release.
Today, Microsoft updated the “fast ring” of its Windows Insider builds to support draft emoji candidates for 2019.
Fellow emoji lovers! Build 18277 contains a first look at the emoji we've designed for #Windows10 in preparation for the Emoji 12.0 release - the new emoji are available for input via both the Emoji Panel & Touch Keyboard 😊
— Jen Gentleman 🌺 (@JenMsft) November 7, 2018
Details here: https://t.co/DMGLPp6Uqk #WindowsInsiders pic.twitter.com/mM9pbgeyDb
Noted by Windows Insider Community Manager Jen Gentleman, this means some of the new emojis for 2019 are already showing for a subset of Windows 10 users up to a year before they may work on other platforms.
Windows Insider builds are effectively the beta channel for Windows users who don't mind trading potential bugs for access to features not yet ready for the public builds.
As yet, the 2019 emoji list hasn't been finalized by Unicode and these code points aren't recommend for circulation, which Microsoft hints at in its release notes for this build:
The complete list of emoji for the Emoji 12 release is still in Beta, so Insiders may notice a few changes over the coming flights as the emoji are finalized. We have a bit more work to do, including adding search keywords for the new emoji, and adding a few emoji that aren’t finished yet.
Emoji 12.0 is now in beta, with the decisions about the final list to be determined at the next Unicode Technical Committee meeting in January 2019. A release is scheduled for March 2019. Current candidates include accessibility emojis, flamingo, mate, and sloth.