WhatsApp, how to use the hidden emoji

Poking around in the beta version of WhatsApp for Android, new secret emoji have been discovered. Using the beta version of the app they can already be sent

New emoji coming to the Android app of WhatsApp: from the next version of the application, in fact, will be available some new "smilies" to use in chats of the most popular instant messaging service for smartphones. These emoji can already be tested if you use the latest beta version of the WhatsApp app.

Among the new emoji coming soon, also the Transgender Pride flag (a flag with horizontal blue, pink and white stripes) and its symbol born from the fusion of the already known male and female symbols. Like all previous emoji, these too are encoded in the Unicode character standard and, consequently, can be viewed on all devices capable of interpreting this standard. It must be said, however, that on different apps and devices the emoji might be displayed slightly differently.

How to use WhatsApp's hidden emoji

These new emoji are not yet usable in the official version of WhatsApp's app, currently installed by the majority of users, but you can view and share them if you have the beta version (of both the app and the desktop application). To start trying them out, all you have to do is go to the web address of the Unicode emoji list, select the image you like, copy it and paste it into a WhatsApp chat.

The new WhatsApp emoji

In mid-February, an initial list of new emoji coming soon was leaked, containing over 200 new images. Among them there is even the one of menstruation (a drop of red blood), but also a yawning face and the inevitable pink flamingo. The language of emoji, therefore, is becoming over time a true universal language with more and more symbols that can be used to communicate with users around the world.

This is also why there is a real official procedure to be followed for an emoji to be approved and distributed globally by Unicode. You start by making a proposal, through a special online form, specifying the Unicode code, the common name and the image that the new emoji should have on the various platforms. The Unicode Technical Committee then reviews all proposals and accepts some, while discarding others, according to strict selection criteria. Periodically, finally, the new approved emoji are published and the various applications that will use them are updated by the developers in order to be able to correctly read the Unicode code and transform it into the approved image. The total number of approved emoji published by Unicode today exceeds 1,700.