January 30, 2026
Emoji court is now in session
Emoji Design Convergence Review: 2018-2026
From drool mix-ups to flag fights, fans argue who controls our tiny faces
TLDR: Emojipedia says emoji designs have largely converged since 2018, with Samsung leading the clean‑up. Comments erupt over who sets meaning: critics slam weak standards, warn of politics around flags, complain there are too many emojis, and meme on the “gun nerf”—clarity vs control is the split.
Emojipedia’s review says emoji designs have mostly “converged” since 2018, so the same little faces look more alike across phones. The poster child: Jessica Chastain’s 🤤 Drooling Face mix‑up, which Samsung quickly fixed—plus a cleaner 🙄 Rolling Eyes. Samsung kept sanding off quirks through multiple updates, even a near overhaul in One UI 6.0. Goal: fewer “what did you mean?” moments. But as the recap drops, the comments don’t just nod; they explode. The real debate isn’t pixels—it’s power. Who decides what these tiny pictures mean?
Strongest voices swing. One user blasts the Unicode standard—the universal emoji list—as a mistake without visual rules, causing confusion and sameness. Apple gets dragged, with jokers asking if design boss Alan Dye was kept away from the emoji menu. The spiciest take goes global: emojis as geopolitics, with fears of flags added, removed, or “edited by executive order.” Others sigh there are simply too many emojis; just type words. And the meme‑y chorus returns: “Still mad the gun was nerfed.” Convergence promised clarity, but the crowd splits between consistency and control—and the drama is delicious.
Key Points
- •Emojipedia reviews emoji design changes from 2018–2026, focusing on cross‑platform convergence and some deliberate divergences.
- •Emoji designs were fragmented from 2012–2017, causing miscommunications across platforms.
- •Jessica Chastain’s 2018 tweet highlighted confusion caused by Samsung’s then Drooling Face design.
- •Samsung revised Drooling Face and other emojis in Samsung Experience 9.0 and continued convergent changes in subsequent releases.
- •At least seven of Samsung’s 13 updates since 2018 included significant changes aimed at convergence, including large-scale revisions in One UI 6.0.