Windows 11 Emoji Changelog

Windows 11 Emoji Changelog

Released today, Windows 11 introduces over 250 emojis to Microsoft's flagship platform. However, as of today's release, Windows 11 continues to display emojis in Microsoft's previous thick-outlined style instead of debuting the much-previewed Fluent emoji redesign.

Windows 11 introduces 255 emojis to Microsoft's OS: 138 from 2019's Emoji 12.1[1] and 117 from early 2020's Emoji 13.0 recommendations.

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Above: the 255 emojis introduces to Microsoft via today's Windows 11 upgrade.

Windows 11 does not yet support any additions from late 2020's Emoji 13.1 recommendations, such as โค๏ธโ€๐Ÿ”ฅ Heart on Fire, or any of last month's Emoji 14.0 recommendations.

While it is currently unknown if the 3D, claymation-esque Fluent set will include support for Emoji 14.0 upon its debut, the designs for ๐Ÿ˜ถโ€๐ŸŒซ๏ธ Face in Clouds, ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ Face Exhaling, and ๐Ÿ˜ตโ€๐Ÿ’ซ Face with Spiral Eyes from Emoji 13.1 have been previewed in this style.

Emojipedia-Microsoft-July-2021-Emoji-13_1-New-Designs

Above: ๐Ÿ˜ถโ€๐ŸŒซ๏ธ Face in Clouds, ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ Face Exhaling, and ๐Ÿ˜ตโ€๐Ÿ’ซ Face with Spiral Eyes as they are expected to appear in Microsoft's Fluent emoji set.

You can learn more about what we do know about Microsoft's upcoming Fluent emoji set here.

While not introducing Flunet designs, today's version of Windows 11 does update a signficant number of existing Segoe Color Emoji designs, greatly expanding Microsoft's gender neutral emoji options.

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Above: a selection of the gender neutral emoji designs introduced in Windows 11.

Not only is the gender inclusive appearance of these emojis more consistent with how the Unicode Consortium defines many emojis (without gender specified), these changes also remove the need to choose a specific gender when sending an emoji such as a ๐Ÿ‘ฎ Police Officer, ๐Ÿƒ Person Running, or ๐Ÿง› Vampire.

๐Ÿ†• New

Today's Windows 11 update includes two new smiley emojis: ๐Ÿฅฒ Smiling Face with Tear and ๐Ÿฅธ Disguised Face.

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It also includes the ๐ŸคŒ Pinched Fingers hand gesture with skin tone modifier options.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-New-Emojis-Pinched-Fingers

There are also a large number of new gender neutral emoji designs introduced in Windows 11, the majority of which are drawn from late 2019's Emoji 12.1 recommendations.

Amongst these new gender neutral emojis are the versions of the hair styles introduced in the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-New-Emojis-New-Hair-Style

There are also three new non-gender-specific emojis using a ๐Ÿฆฏ Probing Cane, ๐Ÿฆฝ Manual Wheelchair, or ๐Ÿฆผ Motorized Wheelchair.

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Also included in Windows 11 are gender neutral variants of 16 previous-available professions.

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Other person-oriented emojis included in Windows 11, specifically drawn from Emoji 13.0's recommendations, include a ๐Ÿฅท Ninja and various ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿผ Person Feeding Baby emojis. There are also two new anatomy-based emojis, namely ๐Ÿซ€ Anatomical Heart and ๐Ÿซ Lungs.

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There are a total of 12 new animal emojis, such as ๐Ÿˆโ€โฌ› Black Cat and ๐Ÿปโ€โ„๏ธ Polar Bear.

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The category of Food & Drink has eight new additions, including ๐Ÿซ– Teapot and ๐Ÿซ‘ Bell Pepper.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-New-Food-Emojis

The remaining new emojis in Windows 11 fit into the broad categories of nature, objects, and symbols. Amongst these is the ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ Transgender Flag.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-New-Misc-Emojis

๐Ÿ†™ Changed Emojis

Hundreds of previously-available person emojis have now been given a new gender neutral appearance in Windows 11.

Prior to this update, many emojis which didn't specify a gender would be displayed with either their equivalent ๐Ÿ‘ฉ Woman or ๐Ÿ‘จ Man emoji's design.

For example, the ๐Ÿ‘ฎ Police Officer emoji was shown with the same design as the ๐Ÿ‘ฎโ€โ™‚๏ธ Man Police Officer, while ๐Ÿคท Person Shrugging displayed the same design as ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ Woman Shrugging.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-People-Gender-Design-Comparison

Above: A comparison of several ๐Ÿ‘ฉ Woman, ๐Ÿ‘จ Man and non-gender-specifying emoji designs between Windows 10 (before) and Windows 11 (after).

Gender neutral emojis are now mostly shown to wear orange in designs where clothes are visible and not a core element of the design (e.g. ๐Ÿ‘ฎ Police Officer's uniform remains the traditional navy blue for all version of the emoji). As per other vendor's implementation, ๐Ÿ‘ฉ Women wear purple and ๐Ÿ‘จ Men are dressed in teal.[3]

Outside of the introduce of a new gender-based color palette, several other existing emojis have had their design reworked in Windows 11. Listed below are some highlights.

๐Ÿ˜ท Face with Medical Mask now has a neutral expression.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Face-With-Medical-Mask

๐Ÿ˜ต Dizzy Face now has x-shaped eyes instead of spirals, preempting Microsoft's support for ๐Ÿ˜ตโ€๐Ÿ’ซ Face with Spiral Eyes.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Dizzy-Face

โœจ Sparkles's four-point stars are now all yellow instead of multi-colored.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Sparkles

๐Ÿ‘จ Man no longer has a moustache.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Man

๐Ÿ‘ฝ Alien now has grey skin instead of green.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Alien

๐Ÿฆ’ Giraffe now shows the full mammal, including its iconic long neck, instead of just its face.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Giraffe

๐ŸŽ—๏ธ Reminder Ribbon is now yellow instead of pink, as per other vendors' designs.

Emojipedia-Windows-11-Changelog-Comparison-Reminder-Ribbon

๐Ÿช’ Razor is now a safety razor instead of a straight razor.

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๐Ÿ“ถ Release

Windows 11 is now available as a free update for Windows 10 users in select regions, with global rollout continuing over the next few weeks.

Those using Windows Insider builds would have already received this update at various stages over the past few months, varying based on the fast or slow ring options.

๐Ÿ“– Read More


  1. While Emoji 12.1 included 30 additional variations of ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿคโ€๐Ÿง‘ People Holding Hands, Microsoft had previously implemented these variations via a Windows 10 update. These ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿคโ€๐Ÿง‘ People Holding Hands designs were updated in Windows 11, however. โ†ฉ๏ธŽ

  2. You can learn more about ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐ŸŽ„ Mx. Claus in our late 2020 blog article here. โ†ฉ๏ธŽ

  3. Prior to this update, Windows presented ๐Ÿ‘จ Men as wearing either blue or red. Certain ๐Ÿ‘ฉ Women emojis wore green or pink, though purple was still their most prominent clothing color. โ†ฉ๏ธŽ