Yesterday, Apple released iOS 10.2 for the iPhone and iPad. The most obvious feature in this update is the vast improvement to the emoji, but that’s not all. The update also replaces the built-in Videos app with the new TV app, which is a central place to watch TV shows from many other apps, a place to view the videos in your libraries, and a place to learn about new videos to watch.
There are also many improvements to Settings. For example, have you ever used the camera app to take a video, then exited the app to do something else, and then came back only to find that the camera app switched back to the photo mode? You can now go to Settings -> Photos & Camera -> Preserve Settings -> Camera Mode. This way, the Camera app will resume in the mode that you last used.
Live Photos are also improved, with better stabilization and faster frame rates. We’re inching closer towards Harry Potter-style photos. There are two new screen effects in Messages which add some animation around your text messages: celebration and love. And there are numerous other small fixes and improvements and security enhancements.
But again, the change that most people will notice is the new and improved emoji. First, there are 88 new emoji in iOS 10.2. This includes 16 new professions, including for the first time a judge. There is also a new technology worker emoji — a person using a computer — which to me looks like an appellate brief writer. There are also lots of food and drink emoji, including a glass tumbler. Every time I look at that glass tumbler, I see a Sazerac — the official cocktail of New Orleans.
Here is a list of the 88 new ones, followed by pictures so that you can see them too:
Row 1: Rolling on the floor laughing face, clown face, cowboy face, lying face, drooling face, nauseated face, sneezing face, doctor, farmer, chef
Row 2: student, rock star, teacher, factor worker, computer user, office worker, mechanic, scientist, artist, pilot
Row 3: astronaut, fireman, judge, prince, Mrs. Claus, man in tuxedo. shrug, face palm, pregnant woman, man dancing,
Row 4: arm taking a selfie picture, hand with index and middle fingers crossed, hand in a call me position, left-facing fist, right-facing fist, back of hand, handshake, black heart, gorilla, fox,
Row 5: deer, rhinoceros, bat, eagle, duck, owl. lizard, shark, shrimp, squid
Row 6: butterfly, wilted flower, kiwi, potato, carrot, cucumber, peanuts, croissant, baguette
Row 7: pancakes, bacon, stuffed flatbread, egg, shallow pan of food, salad, glass of milk, clinking glasses, tumbler glass, spoon
Row 8: stop sign, scooter, motor scooter, canoe, first place medal, second place medal, third place medal, boxing glove, martial arts uniform, wrestlers
Row 9: water polo player, handball player, fencer, goal net, person doing cartwheel, juggler, drum, shopping cart
For all of the professions, there are now both male and female versions, which are listed separately in the emoji picker. (I only included the male versions above to avoid repetition.) Santa was in the prior emoji set, but Mrs. Claus is new.
Second, it seems like almost every one of the prior emoji is updated. Almost every emoji now features much more detail. For example, here are three of the Christmas emoji. At the top you can see what the Christmas tree, present and Santa look like in iOS 10.2, and at the bottom you can see what they looked like in the prior version. The new versions of the tree and present look great to me. But I actually prefer the old version of Santa.
Third, just about all of the emoji featuring faces now have alternative skin tones and hair colors. So it is now easier to find an emoji that looks more like you. For example, here are all of the male and female judge variations (click for larger versions):
Update your iPhone and iPad to iOS 10.2 to see all of the new emoji and to take advantage of the other new features.