Windows 11 26H2 Emojis
Emoji 17.0 on Windows, and 3D Fluent takes over
What emoji did Windows 11 26H2 add?
Microsoft began rolling out Emoji 17.0 support on 27 August 2026 through a Windows 11 Release Preview update ahead of the formal 26H2 release, after it first appeared in Insider build 26340.9212 on 17 August. The release adds 163 emoji, made up of 13 new concepts and 150 skin tone sequences. The more visible change is that the 3D Fluent designs now render in places where the flat 2D set previously appeared, making the three dimensional artwork the default Windows experience rather than an alternative set.
It arrived before the release it is named after
The emoji shipped on 27 August 2026 through a Windows 11 Release Preview servicing update, ahead of the formal release of version 26H2, after first appearing in Insider build 26340.9212 on 17 August. That sequence is normal for Windows emoji and is why checking your Windows version is a poor way to tell whether you have them. A fully updated machine on the servicing channel can have emoji that a machine on a nominally newer feature update does not.
3D Fluent quietly became the default
Microsoft has maintained two emoji sets for years, a flat 2D design and a three dimensional Fluent set, with which one you saw depending on the application. This release pushed the 3D designs into places where the 2D artwork previously rendered, making the dimensional set the default Windows experience rather than an alternative. For most people this is a more visible change than the 13 new characters, because it affects every emoji they already use rather than ones they have never typed.
Fourteen existing designs changed
Saluting Face and Face with Peeking Eye were given neutral mouths, Face with Thermometer relaxed its eyebrows, Kissing Cat lost its heart, Pinching Hand reversed direction, Goose became fully white, Oyster repositioned its shell, Lotus lost its lily pad, Lime was redrawn at a new angle, Cupcake gained cream icing and Wheel got a modern tire. Hair Pick, Trumpet and Flashlight were all turned to face down and to the left, which is part of a slow industry wide convergence on consistent object orientation.
At a glance
| Shipped | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Microsoft Windows |
| Emoji version implemented | Emoji 17.0 |
| Emoji added | 163 |
The emoji Windows 11 26H2 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 Windows 11 26H2 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 17.0 was published on 9 September 2025 and reached most phones during the first half of 2026. The headline count of 163 is misleading on its own: only seven are genuinely new drawings. The other 156 are skin-tone and variant sequences, most of them filling in the people wrestling and people with bunny ears emoji so both figures can carry different skin tones independently.
Read the full Unicode 17.0 recordFrequently Asked Questions
How do I get the Emoji 17.0 designs on Windows 11?
Open Settings, then Windows Update, and install the latest update. Microsoft began the rollout on 27 August 2026 through a Release Preview servicing update ahead of Windows 11 version 26H2, so a fully updated machine should already have them.
Why do Windows emoji look three dimensional now?
Microsoft's 3D Fluent set is now rendering in places where the flat 2D designs used to appear. Both sets have existed for some time, but this release made the three dimensional artwork the default rather than something you saw only in certain apps.
Which existing Windows emoji were redesigned?
Saluting Face and Face with Peeking Eye were given neutral mouths, Face with Thermometer relaxed its eyebrows, Kissing Cat lost its heart, Pinching Hand reversed direction, Goose became fully white, and Hair Pick, Trumpet and Flashlight were all turned to face down and to the left.
Why does Windows count 163 new emoji, the same as iOS 26.4?
Both implemented the same Emoji 17.0 set and both counted skin tone sequences the same way, 13 concepts plus 150 variants for Microsoft and a comparable split for Apple. Samsung and WhatsApp counted differently, which is why their totals are 133 and 143 for the same underlying release.
Browse iOS emoji releases
Related iOS releases
Further reading
- Why some emoji look identicalCucumber against pickle, comet against meteor, and 18 more pairs.
- The seahorse emoji that never existedWhy millions remember one, and why AI chatbots insist it is real.
- The 25 oldest emoji, dated to 1993Checked against Unicode's own character age file. Half of them are zodiac.