New WhatsApp Emojis in 2026: What Changed, and Why They Look Different 💬
Searching for "new WhatsApp emojis" turns up two different things, and it's worth separating them before you go looking. There are the emoji WhatsApp gained because Unicode added them — the same batch every platform eventually gets. And there are the emoji that exist only on WhatsApp, because WhatsApp drew them itself and shipped them without waiting for anyone.
WhatsApp does more of the second kind than any other mainstream messaging app. Below is what's actually new, what's WhatsApp-exclusive, and why the emoji in your chats may not match the ones on your keyboard.
The 2026 update: 143 new designs on 6 March
WhatsApp's most recent Unicode emoji update arrived in version 2.26.8.72, which began rolling out on 6 March 2026 and added 143 new emoji designs drawn from the Emoji 17.0 set.[1]
If you're on Android and your emoji keyboard hasn't changed, the fix is usually just updating the app: the new designs require WhatsApp 2.26.8.72 or above.[1]
Why WhatsApp's emojis look different in the first place
Most apps simply render whatever emoji font the operating system provides. WhatsApp doesn't. It maintains its own emoji artwork, launched in October 2017 — first in beta version 2.17.363, then in the stable Android release 2.17.386 later that month.[2]
So the same message can genuinely look different on two phones: an Android friend sees WhatsApp's drawing, and you see Apple's. Nothing is broken, and the underlying character is identical — only the picture painted on top of it differs. That is also true across the wider ecosystem, which is exactly what Unicode does and doesn't standardise.
The emojis you can only get on WhatsApp
Unicode marks a set of emoji as RGI — Recommended for General Interchange. Vendors are free to go beyond it, and WhatsApp repeatedly has, most visibly with flags:
The pattern goes beyond flags. WhatsApp shipped the Middle Finger emoji in 2015, before Apple supported it in iOS 9.1, added Olympic Rings in July 2016 only to remove them three weeks later in version 2.16.9, and added the Transgender Flag in March 2019 in version 2.19.62.[2]
Because these characters aren't RGI, they generally won't render on platforms that don't support them — a Texas flag sent from WhatsApp is not guaranteed to survive the trip to another app.
The sponsored redesigns: when a familiar emoji changes overnight
If your ⚽ suddenly looked unfamiliar in mid-2026, that was deliberate. WhatsApp partnered with Adidas to redraw the Soccer Ball emoji as the Trionda, the official match ball of the 2026 World Cup. It was released on 4 June 2026 — and unusually, it went out across WhatsApp for Android, WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp for iOS, overriding Apple's design inside the app. The ball was reverted once the tournament ended.[2]
It wasn't the first. In April 2024, WhatsApp redrew its 🏎️ Racing Car emoji as part of a promotional partnership with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team; that one was extended to iOS and Web and remains in place.[2]
What's next for WhatsApp emojis
The next Unicode batch is Emoji 18.0, due for approval in September 2026, with 19 new emoji candidates under consideration — a set that would bring the total number of Unicode emoji to 3,972. Candidates include a cracking face, a monarch butterfly, a pickle, a lighthouse, a meteor and a bug net.[3]
WhatsApp hasn't announced a date for its own designs, and there is no reliable way to predict one. What the record shows is the shape of the gap: Emoji 17.0 was recommended by Unicode in September 2025, and WhatsApp's designs landed on 6 March 2026.[1] We track every confirmed platform date as it's announced in our emoji release date guide.
💬 EmojiCircle's Take
WhatsApp is the one mainstream platform that treats its emoji set as something it owns rather than
something it inherits — shipping flags Unicode never recommended, and swapping a football for a sponsor's
ball for the length of a tournament. It's why "the new WhatsApp emojis" is a genuinely different question
from "the new emojis."
Want the full Unicode picture instead?
Read our Emoji 17.0 and 18.0 guide,
or search the emoji catalog and copy anything you
like.
Sources
- Emojipedia — WhatsApp 2.26.8.72 Emoji Changelog, 6 March 2026.
- Emojipedia — WhatsApp's Emoji Adventures: From Non-RGI Flags To Brand Partnerships, 14 July 2026.
- Emojipedia — What's New On World Emoji Day 2026, 17 July 2026.
Explore More Emojis
See exactly when each platform shipped the latest batch in our emoji release date guide, or read what's actually in it in the new emojis 2025 & 2026 guide. You can also learn how Unicode decides what becomes an emoji, follow the whole story in our emoji timeline, browse the current standard with our emoji search engine, or dig into Flags and Smileys.