Emoji 13.1 — Now final, to be widely available in 2021

Emoji 13.1 is now final with 217 new emoji sequences! Of these, 210 are skin tone variants; the other seven new emoji are:

Most of the skin tone variants are for the multi-person emoji groupings couples with heart and couples kissing.

This minor release was created to add new emoji before 2022. The Unicode Consortium is a volunteer organization and we would be completely without new emoji in 2021 if it weren’t for the dedication of many volunteers who make this possible. Thank you! ✨

The new emoji are listed in Emoji Recently Added v13.1. The images provided on that page are just samples: vendors for mobile phones, PCs, and web platforms create their own images.

New emoji in this release should begin appearing on devices in the coming months. These new emoji will also be available for adoption. Donations for adoptions help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages.

For implementers:

1. There are no new atomic characters. Instead, each emoji is a sequence of existing characters.
2. UTS #51 and associated data files have been updated for Emoji 13.1.
3. CLDR v38 alpha has also been updated for Emoji 13.1. This includes names, search keywords, and sort orderings for the new emoji, available for over 80 languages. It is scheduled for release at the end of October.

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Over 140,000 characters are available for adoption to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages

Unicode CLDR Locale Data v38 alpha available for testing

The alpha version of Unicode CLDR version 38 is now available for data testing. The final release of v38 is planned for October 22, 2020. If you find any problems with the data, please file a ticket.

Unicode CLDR provides an update to the key building blocks for software supporting the world's languages. CLDR data is used by all major software systems (including all mobile phones) for their software internationalization and localization, adapting software to the conventions of different languages.

CLDR v38 includes:

• Enhancements to existing locale data: adding support for units of measurement in inflected languages (phase 1), adding annotations (names and search keywords) for Unicode symbols that are non-emoji (~400), and annotations for Emoji v13.1.
• New locales added: Dogri and Sanskrit.
• Survey Tool upgrades: substantial performance improvements, plus structured forum entries to improve coordination among translators.

See additional details in the draft CLDR v38 Release note

The overall changes to the data items were:

Added	Deleted	Changed
155,131	33,805	45,895

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Over 140,000 characters are available for adoption to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages

Emoji 15.0 Submissions Re-Open April 15, 2021

The Unicode Consortium is postponing the submissions of new emoji for Unicode version 15.0 until April 15, 2021. This delay follows on the postponement of the release of the upcoming Unicode 14.0 version from March to September 2021.

This delay impacts related specifications and data, such as new emoji characters. As a consequence, the deadline for submission of new emoji character proposals for Emoji 14.0 was extended until September 1, 2020.

Pausing Processing of New Emoji Proposals ⏸️

The Emoji Subcommittee is in the process of revising the submission form. Until the new submission form is ready on April 15, 2021, proposals will be returned to sender. During this period the committee will also be prioritizing Emoji 15.0 initiatives as described in document L2/20-197.

Submissions for Emoji 15.0 Open April 2021 ▶️

The Emoji Subcommittee will be accepting new emoji character proposals for Emoji 15.0 from April 15, 2021 onward. Any new emoji characters incorporated into Emoji 15.0 can be expected to appear on devices such as computers, phones, and tablets in 2023.

Edited 2021-03-31 to reflect modification of the opening date from April 2 to April 15.

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Over 140,000 characters are available for adoption to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages