Update: iOS 10.2 has been released.

Apple today released a developer preview of iOS 10.2 which includes favorites such as the Shrug and Fingers Crossed emojis for the first time.



Above: No more waiting. Shrug is included in iOS 10.2 developer beta.

Other popular additions coming in this iOS update include Fox Face, Avocado, and Owl.

iOS 10.2 developer beta adds full Unicode 9 emoji support which includes all of the following 72 emojis approved in June 2016:

There are so many popular additions in this set that there is likely to be something for everyone. In particular, these tend to rank highly on Emojipedia:

As with any iOS emoji update, users may take a while to find where the new emojis are, as they are interspersed throughout the keyboard:



Above: New Animals in iOS 10.2 include Fox, Duck, Squid, Gorilla.

In addition to Unicode 9 support, new emoji professions from the Emoji 4.0 update are included in this new release.

These include roles such as Firefighter and Judge, with female and male versions of each (in all skin tones).



Above: Female Firefighter and Female Judge are available in iOS 10.2.

In total 16 new professions are supported, which appear as 32 emojis on the keyboard — one female, one male. Times that by six skin tone options, and this list of 16 jobs becomes 192 distinct images.

Here they are, all the new emoji professions:



Above: A range of professions on the emoji keyboard in iOS 10.2.

Apple's previous emoji release was iOS 10 in September 2016, which included new emoji artwork, gendered emojis, and a change to the gun emoji.



Above: Female versions of existing emojis were added in iOS 10.

Changes

In addition to all the new emojis, Apple has also updated the appearance of all remaining emojis not changed in the last revision.



Above: Brand new emoji designs in iOS 10.2.

The new art style is more bulbous, with sharp details which are beautiful. While it's a shame to lose some of the hand crafted details of the original set, this new 3D-style set looks like a cohesive collection for the first time.

It's clear this was a large project, which must have taken considerable time. Kudos to those involved with this.

Overall, these image updates are a welcome addition given the ad-hoc nature of emoji updates over the years!

Release

A public release date is not yet known for iOS 10.2, but given a normal release cycle this is likely to hit phones in November 2016.

Given the nature of beta releases, it is possible that some of the emoji artwork could still change prior to the final release.

We originally speculated these updates would have arrived in iOS 10.1 earlier this month, so we got it wrong on that front:

👏 Expect two major iOS emoji updates in 2016 😮



🗓 iOS 10.0: Gendered Roles + Redesign

🗓 iOS 10.1: Professions + Unicode 9 — Emojipedia 📙 (@Emojipedia) August 26, 2016

Related

If you missed them, see what was new in the past two emoji updates from Apple:

Lastly, here's a look at what is sure to become a popular emoji around the web very quickly:



Above: Face Palm will be very popular. There is no doubt.

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