Android 12 gets new emoji – more new ones in the future without system updates

A new Android version usually stands for New Emoji, and Android 12 is no different. Google just announced that it is rolling out the changes we spotted yesterday in Android 12 and other Google services like Gmail, Chat, and Chrome OS. This includes 992 redesigned emoji and some of the new (lagged) Unicode 14.0 standard. Google also tells us that apps will soon be able to leverage the new emoji separately from system updates. We were originally worried that this was a rebading of the old EmojiCompat feature, but after talking to Google a little more in depth, it isn’t. Looks like it might in fact make a difference, and even older phones will be in the action.

Among the changes in this new version is an updated mask emoji that looks a little less sick and unhappy – appropriate given the last year and a half behind them. But the overall look is to make things flatter, reducing the 3D effect gradient effects in many cases (but not all) while improving the contrast and colors for a bit more “pop”. Some changes are less realistic, others are After. Some examples almost look like poster prints, while others are cartoonish. In short, it’s not exactly consistent, but it’s a bit more modern. But, with emoji spanning such a wide variety now, it’s impossible for them all to match the exact same style anyway – they would look terrible if Google tried to force this.

Some of the changes make things a bit more accessible, like “pie”, which covers a wider range with its new design, rather than just the pumpkin – although I maintain, the pumpkin remains the better pie. The same goes for the new bikini, which abandons the bodily implications by being a little more free. New car and truck emojis are less realistic, but easier to understand visually at a tiny size thanks to exaggerated scaling. Other changes make so much more sense than emoji, like a new highway / road emoji that doesn’t abuse yellow lines. But even basic food emoji look a bit more appetizing in Android 12.

The new emoji are not fair come to Android 12, either. Google is rolling them out to other services as well, including Gmail, Chat, Chrome OS, and YouTube Live Chat starting this month.

Google is also rolling out a big and long overdue change in the way new emoji are rolled out to Android phones. Rather than wait for system updates, Google decouples them to be updated separately as part of GMS – that’s the fancy term for Google’s proprietary whipped cream and cherry software in addition to cream. open source Android ice cream. Basically, emoji will be part of the Play services.

I know, we heard this before when EmojiCompat was first announced, and at first I thought this announcement was just a rebadge, but I was wrong. I’ve had a chance to talk to some folks at Google about the changes that are happening, and they’re actually very significant, and I’m told that the perks will be available for most apps on the Play Store – an explanation that will have makes sense once you understand how it works.

The new changes bring the old EmojiCompat support library into Jetpack’s Appcompat module, probably at least in part pulling other tweaks that decouple a few related system directories, which telegraphed Google’s emoji plans earlier this year. But it’s not just a rebading of the old functionality, as we initially thought. Google tells us these changes mean it’s not something developers need to target specifically to take advantage of it. Since most apps in the Play Store use Jetpack and Appcompat, most apps should just get this change and enjoy the benefits of the new emoji without as much work as before. Previously, only proprietary apps like Gboard and Messages seemed to have taken advantage of EmojiCompat.

We also asked Google why something like a Mainline module wasn’t implemented instead, and we were told that this way, through Play Services, is actually better. Play Services have faster and more frequent updates, so changes can happen faster, and that means it will work on older devices as well – a core module rolled out with Android 12 would exclude them all.

We’ll still have to see precisely how it plays out to be sure it works, but it looks like Google has given it some thought and can finally deliver on its promises since 2017 to bring new emoji to old phones.

Finally, AP’s Stephen Schenck would also like to know that Google’s spelling for “emoji” for plurals even in today’s announcement is objectively correct.