While this update includes everything from Unicode 9.0 many of the late-2016 additions of emoji professions and other gendered emoji updates aren't showing at this stage. Įmojis could be helping this aim, given the limited space on mobile phone screens for other types of branding.īut as long as Messenger lives within Facebook on the desktop, we may continue to see the current situation, where the same window can show two completely different emoji sets.Ībove: Facebook (left) uses different emojis to Messenger (right), even when use in the same session.Ī request to Facebook to clarify the multi-emoji situation has gone unanswered at this stage. The answer to why Facebook uses different emojis on each platform may be that it's an effort to further pitch Facebook Messenger as just Messenger and thus a standalone product with its own identity. At the time, it appeared that this may be the basis for the future Facebook website emojis.Ībove: Facebook uses different emoji designs for different products. In 2016, Facebook updated Messenger with a distinct emoji style. What isn't clear is the reason behind Facebook using completely different emoji sets for their Messenger app, compared to Facebook's main product.
The color palette has expanded from basic pastels in the old set, to a rich, detailed look which is distinct from other platforms.Īs emojis become one of the areas that platform owners increasingly look to brand with their own style, Facebook has clearly decided it wants a consistent look from system to system.Īdditionally, with many Windows and Android users running out of date operating systems which don't have access to newer emojis, it's perhaps unsurprising to see third party developers take this into their own hands. It appears the style may have been influenced by wanting to ensure users on older computers without high resolution screens aren't left squinting.Īnd the new Man in Business Suit Levitating:ĭesign-wise, this set sits somewhere between the shading of the emojis in Messenger and the flatter style of Twemoji. Īt small sizes, the smiley characters work well, in particular the white "gloves" on smileys-with-hands make these clear at small sizes.
This means that that emojis for Man in Tuxedo, Pregnant Woman, Prince, and Face Palm are now available on Facebook for the first time. This is a large increase from the 469 emojis supported in the last release. In addition to the redesign, this latest update adds all the new emojis from Unicode 9, with 2,089 images supported in total.
The latest set includes full skin tone support, and a complete redesign.Ībove: Facebook's previous emoji set dates back to 2014. In this update, users will no longer see the Facebook-themed blue hands, or the default-white skin toned humans. This includes users of the desktop and mobile websites, but excludes Facebook mobile apps.Īfter an effort began in September 2016 to replace Facebook's limited older-style emojis Emojipedia testing shows this new emoji set is now reaching all users. New emoji designs are now showing for all Facebook website users.