iOS 17.4 appears to bring some major changes to the way Apple and the iPhone function.

These emojis are part of the Unicode 15.1 update approved for September 2023. The approved emojis include phoenix, lime, mushroom, broken chain, and both yes and no headshakes.

There are also four new family emoji combinations and updates to six person emojis (one walking, one running, one kneeling, one with a white cane, one in a manual wheelchair, and one in an electric wheelchair), which now allow users to specify direction so they can now select the direction in which the pictograms will face.

Compared to the pictograms added in last year's iOS 16.4, there are fewer pictograms to choose from. This is partly because the Unicode Consortium considers this update a "minor version update," and partly because some of the new space in the update was reserved for new kanji characters urgently needed for the "Public Service Database

iOS 17.4 is currently only available to developers as a beta version, but it appears to offer several interesting things. One of the biggest appears to be Apple's implementation of EU-mandated changes to the App Store, providing users with an alternative app store. There are also new alternative payment options and the option to stream games on the App Store.

It is always nice to see new emoji and new customization options for existing emoji. While it is true that there are fewer than we would expect, the new emojis offer a more personalized conversation, which is never a bad thing.