WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, with over 2 billion active users. Part of WhatsApp’s appeal lies in its extensive emoji keyboard, which contains over 3,600 emojis. Emojis allow users to express themselves visually in their messages. However, WhatsApp occasionally updates its emoji designs, leading to some confusion among users about whether the emoji set has changed. In this article, we’ll examine some of the recent WhatsApp emoji updates and look at evidence to determine if the core emoji set has significantly changed.
Recent WhatsApp emoji updates
WhatsApp occasionally rolls out emoji updates, typically aligning their emoji designs with the latest Unicode emoji standards. Here are some of the most notable recent updates:
2017: Emoji 5.0 update
In early 2017, WhatsApp updated their emoji set to support Emoji 5.0. This update redesigned the food emojis, changed the rifle emoji to a water gun, and added new emojis like the Colbert facepalm emoji, the vomiting face emoji, and new fantasy creatures like zombies, vampires, and elves.
2018: Emoji 11.0 update
In 2018, WhatsApp adopted the Emoji 11.0 designs. This changed the look of over 150 existing emojis and added 157 new ones. Updates included new hair options for popular emojis, more emotive smiley faces, and increased diversity of people holding hands. New additions included a llama, redheads, a pirate flag, and more food items like a bagel, lettuce, and cupcake.
2019: Emoji 12.0 update
WhatsApp’s Emoji 12.0 update in 2019 brought over 230 new emoji designs. These included more gender neutral options, disability-themed emojis like service dogs, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs, and new foods like waffles, falafel, and ice cubes. Popular new additions were yawning face, pinching hand, and sloth emojis.
2020: Emoji 13.0 update
In 2020, WhatsApp adopted Emoji 13.0 with 217 new emojis. Notable new additions were smiling face with tear, anatomical heart, transgender flag, nesting dolls, piñata, and more emotive emojis for couples of different genders and skin tones kissing and hugging.
Analysis of core WhatsApp emoji set changes
Based on these updates, it’s clear that WhatsApp regularly adds new emojis and tweaks designs. However, have the core, most frequently used WhatsApp emojis drastically changed? Let’s analyze the data:
Smiley, hand, and heart emojis
The main smiley, hand gesture, and heart emojis remain largely the same over the years. There are some minor design tweaks, but the core essence of a smiling face 😀, thumbs up 👍, or red heart ❤️ hasn’t changed. These symbols remain universally recognized.
Celebration emojis
Popular celebration emojis like 🎉tada, 🎊confetti ball and 🎂 birthday cake remain basically the same, with minor enhancements to detail. These emojis are used regularly during celebrations and their core meaning hasn’t changed.
Food emojis
While many new food emojis have been added, the classic food items like 🍎 apple, 🍕 pizza, 🍔 hamburger and 🍟 french fries remain visually similar and easily recognizable. Their colors are brighter and designs cleaner, but they fundamentally look the same.
Animal emojis
Favorite animal emojis like 🐶dog, 🐱 cat, 🐭mouse, 🐸 frog and 🐷 pig are still visually similar over time. More detail has been added, but the animals are the same. Newer animals like 🦄 unicorn and 🐒 monkey fit right in.
Transport emojis
Core transportation emojis remain consistent, like 🚗 car, ✈️ airplane, 🚌 bus, 🚲 bicycle and 🚢 cruise ship. While rendered with more detail now, they would still be easily recognized by users from years past.
Nature emojis
Emojis for major nature symbols like 🌲 evergreen tree, 🌊 water wave, and 🌈 rainbow remain basically the same over time. Their colors pop more now, but the symbols remain consistent.
Have emojis been removed from WhatsApp’s core set?
Based on analysis of WhatsApp’s emoji history, very few – if any – emojis have been removed from their core set over time. While some controversial emojis have been redesigned (like changing the pistol to a water gun), the underlying symbol remains. Any removed emojis tend to be obscure ones that weren’t in widespread use. For example, emoji variants that didn’t offer substantial new meaning.
What does this mean for emoji meaning?
The fact that WhatsApp’s core emoji set has remained largely consistent over time means their meanings have stayed stable. When you send a smiling face, birthday cake, thumbs up or other classic emoji today, you can rest assured the meaning will be clearly understood – just as it was years ago.
While new emojis continue to emerge, the historical staying power of WhatsApp’s most popular emojis means you can text with confidence. Your emojis will be interpreted as you intended.
Conclusion
Based on analysis of WhatsApp’s emoji update history, it’s clear their core emoji set has remained visually consistent over time. Popular emojis like smiles, food, animals, hands, hearts and celebrations have retained their recognizability, despite minor design tweaks. Very few emojis have been removed from WhatsApp’s lexicon, proving their meanings have staying power.
So although WhatsApp keeps up with emoji updates, introducing new options annually, its core set remains intact. Your classic go-to emojis will continue to be understood just as they were years ago. So you can rest assured that when you send a thumbs up, smiling face or pizza emoji today, your friends will understand it just as clearly as the first time you sent it. WhatsApp’s emojis may evolve visually, but their deeper meanings will remain.