What 2025’s new emojis are telling us

A leafless, lifeless tree is among the most striking new emojis coming to our smartphones in the coming weeks, as part of the latest batch being released by the Unicode Consortium, which sets the international standard for character encoding.

“This emoji is expected to become much more popular in the coming years,” creator Brian Baihaki writes in his original application for the leafless tree emoji, pointing to climate change as the inspiration.

“Environmentalism is not a fad. Climate change has become reality for our everyday lives, drought has become more common and severe, many ecosystems [have] collapsed.”

Little more optimism appears to be suggested by other emojis joining the tree, such as the hangover face, beetroot and shovel.

App developers use the coding as a guide, so the new symbols published in Unicode – which also include a fingerprint, a harp and a blob of paint – should soon be visible on many phones.

Tampon denied

Unicode has already listed which proposed emojis were accepted, which were rejected and which might still be published. Tampon, afro hair, vape and haggis emojis were all denied, however.

Anyone can apply to Unicode for emojis – all that is required is a good explanation of the added value of the character submitted. Logos or specific people are not allowed. The emojis that get accepted are decided on by a jury.

Later this year, meanwhile, we can look forward to a bigfoot emoji, as well as a distorted face in a fish-eye style. Even the remains of an apple and a “fight cloud” are set to become part of the emoji list.

Disregarded by some, emojis, when used frequently and considerately, can reflect a higher level of emotional intelligence, according to researchers at Indiana University and the Kinsey Institute in the US.

Emojis are thereby one way of conveying content and communicating more effectively. Not only that, but the way you use them says something about you as a person, researchers say.

Those who are desperate for a specific new emoji of their own have the option of sponsoring one from Unicode. “Gold sponsor” companies such as the fast food chain Red Lobster and Ford have already adopted matching emojis for $5,000 each, linking their websites in the process.

The full list of emojis arriving in 2025:

• Face with bags under eyes
• Fingerprint
• Leafless tree
• Root vegetable
• Harp
• Shovel
• Splatter

2025 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.