2026 Emoji Candidates: Pickles, Meteors and the Release Process

The Japanese edition was published on January 19, 2026 and discussed proposed emoji for a future Emoji 18.0 release. Pickles and a meteor were two of the candidate ideas highlighted in that preview.

Candidate lists and schedules can change. This English edition preserves the topic as an archived proposal discussion; it is not a statement that those characters are approved or already available on your device.

The preview distinguished a pickle concept from the existing cucumber emoji and a meteor concept from existing space imagery. A related existing emoji is not the same character as a proposed new one.

Food and sky motifs can be useful in everyday messages, but proposed artwork may change during standardization and implementation.

An emoji idea can be proposed before it becomes part of a released standard. After standardization, device and app makers still need to implement their own artwork and font support.

A screenshot of a candidate design does not make it a universally supported copyable character. Look at the published standard and your platform’s release notes for the actual supported set.

If a device has not added the character or sequence, the receiving app may show a missing-glyph box. Sending it from a newer device does not update the other person’s font.

Use a familiar existing emoji or plain words when you need the message to be understood across devices.

You can browse established food, nature and space-related emoji in the collections. Use the symbols for what they actually depict rather than labeling an existing character as a newly approved candidate.