We've gotten a look at what 2026's new emoji could be and the big additions? A pickle and a meteor.
The good folks at Emojipedia spotted that Unicode had quietly updated its archives with nine proposed new emoji concepts for September 2026's Emoji 18.0.
Here's the full list of proposed additions, as described by Emojipedia:
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A smiley face with squinting eyes
A leftward thumb sign gesture
A rightward thumb sign gesture
A monarch butterfly (as opposed to the non-specifying ????)
A pickle (as opposed to a ???? Cucumber)
A lighthouse
A meteor (as opposed to a ☄️ Comet)
An eraser, for removing pencil markings from paper
A net with a handle, like those used to catch bugs
In my opinion, the pickle and meteor are the big additions here. A pickle is distinct from a cucumber and could come in handy. And, well, with the way things have been going, a crashing meteor emoji could prove useful, too. Here's what the proposed new emoji look like.
To be clear, just because these emoji are proposed doesn't mean they'll ultimately be approved. And even if they are approved, there's quite a long process before you'll see the new emoji on your keyboard. Unicode is the organization that approves designs for new emoji, but then the big tech companies need to implement the changes.
But, still, we could soon have a pickle and meteor emoji at our disposal. So that's nice.
Topics Emoji
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
