You Can Finally Get Over 70 New Emojis With iOS 11.1, So Choose Your New Favorites

Hello world, have you heard the news? Brand new emojis are finally available for iPhone users with Apple's iOS 11.1 update. The Cupertino, California-based tech company pulled out all the stops for its fresh additions to the emoji keyboard. As predicted, Apple's new emojis include everything from yummy food depictions to mythical creatures. (Need.) Quick, grab your iPhone — here's how to get the new emojis on iOS 11.1!

Get the Update

As with any Apple software update, you'll need to first tap "Settings." From there, select "General" and "Software Update." Then — if you have enough storage available, that is — tap "Download and Install." Just so you know, iOS 11.1 requires a little more than a full gigabyte (1.25 GB) of storage to download. Add that to the four gigabytes iOS 11 needs to simply run, and yeah, your phone's operating system is taking up a huge chunk of memory. I think it's worth it.

If, like me, you haven't managed to free up enough space on your iPhone to download even the original iOS 11 update, you sadly will not be able to experience the emojis. Like, they will look like little blank squares of sadness, not showing up at all on your end. There are a few things you can do (read: delete) in order to get some of your coveted storage back, however. You can delete all your texts in the Messages app, transfer your photos to an external hard drive, and clear your email inbox — the thought of which makes me shudder and feel relatively OK about the fact that my little iPhone 6 is still running on iOS 10.

But I digress. Back to iOS 11.1. Once the software is fully installed, you should have access to more than 70 new emojis, according to the update's description. The portion labeled "Emoji" reads,

[iOS 11.1 introduces] Over 70 new emoji characters including new food types, animals, mythical creatures, clothing options, more expressive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, and more.

For a better idea of what's in store for your iPhone emoji keyboard (assuming you haven't already downloaded iOS 11.1), we can look to Apple's Oct. 6 Newsroom post. The post is all about the then-upcoming emoji update and hints at the company's purposeful designs. "The new emoji are designed to reveal every detail and adapted from approved characters in Unicode 10," they wrote. Apple continued,

iOS 11.1 will also include characters announced on World Emoji Day like Woman with Headscarf, Bearded Person, Breastfeeding, Zombie, Person in Lotus Position and new food items such as Sandwich and Coconut. Also included in the update is the Love-You Gesture, designed after the “I love you” hand sign in American Sign Language.

Apple's emoji news is sort of late, considering many of us expected the updated roster to be included in iOS 11's initial launch on Tuesday, Sept. 19. We were shocked to find out that it, in fact, did not. Despite the pretty cool general features iOS 11 brought (augmented reality, for example), what the people really wanted was emojis. And Apple finally delivered! Twitter reacted accordingly.

"Can everyone go update to iOS 11.1 now so y'all can see the new emojis that I send??"

Look, a beard!

And pie!

And a brain!

If 2017 were a new iPhone emoji:

In conclusion, we are all here for the emojis.

What are you waiting for? Hit that download button and start annoying all your friends with your favorites!

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