iOS 15.4 Emojis
Melting Face arrives, and nothing is the same after
What emoji did iOS 15.4 add?
iOS 15.4 landed on 14 March 2022 with the Emoji 14.0 set, and it has the best hit rate of any Apple emoji update in recent memory. The melting face ๐ซ , saluting face ๐ซก, heart hands ๐ซถ and face holding back tears ๐ฅน all entered daily use almost immediately. Thirty-seven new characters became 112 once skin tones were counted.
At a glance
| Shipped | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Apple iOS |
| Emoji version implemented | Emoji 14.0 |
| Emoji added | 112 |
The emoji iOS 15.4 is remembered for
How to get these emoji
Emoji ship inside the system font, so there is no separate download and nothing to enable.
- Open Settings, then General, then Software Update.
- Install iOS 15.4 or any later version.
- Open any keyboard and tap the emoji button. The new characters are already in the picker.
If you send one of these to somebody on an older release, they see a blank box. The character transmits correctly either way, and appears as soon as they update.
The standard behind this release
Unicode 14.0 was published on 14 September 2021 and produced an unusually high hit rate. The melting face ๐ซ and the saluting face ๐ซก both entered everyday use almost immediately, and heart hands ๐ซถ gave the Korean finger heart its own character. Thirty-seven new code points became 112 emoji once skin-tone sequences were included.
Read the full Unicode 14.0 recordFrequently Asked Questions
Which iOS version added the melting face emoji?
iOS 15.4, released 14 March 2022. ๐ซ came in with Emoji 14.0 and became one of the most-used faces of the decade within months, largely because it covers embarrassment, heat and quiet panic in one image.
What are the two different heart hand emoji?
๐ซถ is heart hands, both hands forming a heart together. ๐ซฐ is the single-hand finger heart made with a crossed thumb and index finger, popularised by K-pop. Both shipped in iOS 15.4 and they are not interchangeable.
Why did iOS 15.4 add left and right hand emoji?
๐ซฑ and ๐ซฒ exist so a handshake can be assembled from two hands with different skin tones. The older handshake emoji applied one tone to both hands, which made a mixed-tone greeting impossible to show.