Who doesn’t love new emojis? With Apple’s upcoming iOS 16.4, there are 21 new emojis to try out, including a new smiley, a pink heart, and a jellyfish. But you don’t need to wait until Apple releases iOS 16.4 to the public—you can try them out right now.
All the new emojis coming in iOS 16.4
Surprisingly, there’s only one new “smiley face” emoji in this new batch, Shaking Face, which I imagine will have quite a few use cases—ranging from expressing bewilderment at a situation to being shaken up on a rollercoaster. There are three new colored hearts (blue, grey, pink), and leftwards and rightwards pushing hands. The latter two Emojipedia so cleverly says can be combined to create a high five emoji.
We have six new animals and animal-related emojis to choose from, including a black bird, donkey, moose, goose, wing, and jellyfish, in addition to two new foods (a pea pod and ginger). You’ll also find a new folding hand fan, hair pick, flute, maracas, wireless symbol, hyacinth, and Khanda (the symbol of the Sikh faith). That makes 21, but if you consider all the different skin tone variations for the “pushing hands” emojis, there are 31 new emojis in the pack altogether.
What else is new in iOS 16.4?
New emojis are definitely the headlining feature to iOS 16.4, but there are some other interesting perks to look out for. Websites can now send notifications to your iPhone when you add them to the Home Screen, mimicking web notifications on Mac; there’s a new “5G Standalone” setting that can boost 5G speeds up to 3Gbps (T-Mobile only); podcasts now has Channels in the Library, and Up Next has been upgraded for both iOS and CarPlay.
How to update to iOS 16.4 early
iOS 16.4 Public Beta 1 is here, which means anyone with an iPhone 8 or newer can install the beta and try out these new emojis. However, just know that installing beta software on your device is a risky prospect: Beta software is, by definition, unfinished, which means you run the risk of dealing with performance issues and other software quirks. If you decide to remove the beta software from your iPhone, you’ll have to restore the device—which could result in data loss—so make sure to make a backup in iTunes or Finder before proceeding.
That said, installing the beta is pretty easy. Head to Apple’s beta program site on your iPhone and sign into your Apple ID. Scroll down to Get Started, then tap on “enroll your iOS device.” Here, scroll down and tap “Download profile.” Once downloaded, open Settings, tap the profile, then follow the instructions to install it. When the profile finishes installing, head to Settings > General > Software Update, then update your iPhone to iOS 16.4.
