Developer’s Manual to Apple Emoji 🍏😊: iOS & macOS
Emoji in Mobile Apps
In our debut game, Emoji Riddles™, relies on a number of different aspects of emoji to make each riddle decipherable. The illustration of the emoji matters for brainstorming the underlying words in each riddle. If the emoji illustrations are not consistent from player to player, some players could suffer a poor experience and have lower overall engagement. This post seeks to help developers understand key differences when relying on the system default emoji for use in an application.
Apple 🍏
Emojis displayed on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV use the Apple Color Emoji font installed on iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. Some Apple devices support Animoji and Memoji. - Emojipedia
Source: StatCounter Global Stats - iOS Version Market Share
iOS
| Emoji Riddles™ Compatible | Version | Release Date | Emoji Changes | # Emoji |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ❌ | iOS 11.1 | 2017-10-31 | Supports Emoji 5.0 | 2614 |
| ❌ | iOS 11.2 | 2017-12-02 | Minor design updates for 17 existing emoji | 2614 |
| ❌ | iOS 11.3 | 2018-03-29 | Minor design updates for some animoji | 2614 |
| ❌ | iOS 12.1 | 2018-10-30 | Supports Emoji 11.0 | 2776 |
| ❌ | iOS 12.2 | 2019-03-25 | Minor design updates for some animoji | 2776 |
| ❌ | iOS 13.1 | 2019-09-24 | Accuracy update for a number of existing emoji | 2776 |
| ✔ | iOS 13.2 | 2019-10-28 | Supports Emoji 12.0 and Emoji 12.1 | 3175 |
| ✔ | iOS 13.3 | 2019-12-10 | Skin tone updates | 3175 |
| ✔ | iOS 14.2 | 2020-11-05 | Supports Emoji 13.0 | 3292 |
macOS
| Version | Release Date | Emoji Changes | # Emoji |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS High Sierra 10.3.1 | 2017-10-31 | Supports Emoji 5.0 | 2614 |
| macOS 10.15.2 | 2019-12-10 | Supports Emoji 12.0 and Emoji 12.1 | 3175 |
| macOS 11 Big Sur | 2020-11-05 | Supports Emoji 13.0 | 3292 |
Key Takeaways
- Apple is typically among the first to support new Unicode emoji specifications.
- Apple rolls out emoji design changes to all of their operating systems iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS at the same time making the user experience consistent across their ecosystem of devices.
- Emojipedia does an excellent job tracking everything going on in the world of emoji. We suggest following their updates on Apple.
Download Emoji Riddles™ on your favorite Apple iOS device today!
