iOS 18.4 Emojis
Eight emoji, and the tired face everyone actually wanted
What emoji did iOS 18.4 add?
iOS 18.4 landed on 31 March 2025 carrying the smallest emoji set in years. Eight characters, of which the face with bags under eyes ๐ซฉ did nearly all the cultural work. It had been circulating as a screenshot for months before the update, because people wanted it well before any phone could draw it.
At a glance
| Shipped | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Apple iOS |
| Emoji version implemented | Emoji 16.0 |
| Emoji added | 8 |
The emoji iOS 18.4 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 18.4 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 16.0 arrived on 10 September 2024 with seven new emoji code points, the leanest set since emoji numbering began. One of them did almost all the cultural work: the face with bags under eyes ๐ซฉ was adopted instantly as shorthand for exhaustion, and it became the most-shared emoji of the release before most phones could even display it.
Read the full Unicode 16.0 recordFrequently Asked Questions
What emoji came with iOS 18.4?
Seven new characters plus one sequence: the face with bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel and splatter. It is the smallest emoji addition Apple has shipped since the sets were given their own version numbers.
Why did the tired face emoji take so long to arrive?
Unicode approved it in September 2024 as part of Emoji 16.0, and Apple shipped it six and a half months later. That gap is normal: vendors have to commission artwork, test it at every size, and fold it into a system font update.
Is ๐ซฉ the same as the sleepy face?
No. ๐ช shows a sleep bubble and reads as drowsy. ๐ซฉ has open eyes with shadows under them and reads as exhausted but awake, which is why it took hold for burnout rather than bedtime.