Apple released iOS 26.4 beta 4 to developers today, and the update introduces several new emoji that will soon arrive on iPhone. These additions expand the emoji collection that users rely on every day for messages, reactions, and social conversations. Once Apple finishes testing and releases the public version of iOS 26.4, iPhone users will see these new characters available across the system keyboard.
Each year, the Unicode Consortium approves a group of new emoji that companies later implement on their platforms. Apple typically takes several months to design the artwork for each emoji before adding them to iPhone, iPad, and Mac software updates. The emoji approved for the iOS 26 cycle appeared last summer, and Apple has now begun rolling them out through the iOS 26.4 beta program.
According to the Unicode Consortium, these emoji are part of the Unicode 17 update previewed in fall 2025. The organization defines the emoji standards used across platforms, which ensures people can send the same characters between devices running iOS, Android, Windows, and other systems.
New emoji in iOS 26.4 beta 4
The latest developer beta introduces several fresh emoji characters that expand the existing library. The update currently includes the following additions:
- Ballet dancers
- Distorted face
- Fight cloud
- Hairy creature, often described as Bigfoot or Sasquatch
- Landslide
- Orca
- Trombone
- Treasure chest
Apple also added new skin tone options for people wrestling and dancers with bunny ears. The ballet dancer emoji now includes a gender-neutral version as well.
These emoji join the universal emoji standard, which means users can send and receive them across different messaging platforms once compatible software updates arrive.
Apple usually introduces new emoji during spring updates, and the final version of iOS 26.4 will likely bring these characters to all supported devices soon.
Why not branches of service emojis?
Just a helmet … that’s it !
Shame