Android's brand-new 3D emoji are rolling out more widely

Google announced Noto 3D emoji in May, giving its existing Noto emoji lineup a 3D glow-up. Availability was initially limited to the Pixel 11 series, but Google announced last month that it would expand to phones from a handful of manufacturers. It now appears the Noto 3D emoji set is rolling out more broadly.

A user on Reddit claims the new emoji are starting to roll out, though they didn’t specify the phone. The user points out that the updated emoji selection may have arrived as part of a system update, and not as an update to the Gboard app.

For what it’s worth, we’re not seeing the Noto 3D emoji set on a couple of our Pixel phones, including a Pixel 9 running Android 17 QPR2 beta, so it appears to be part of a phased rollout. Nevertheless, it’s good to see Google bringing these upgraded emoji to more Android users, even if it’s hard to say exactly which devices are getting them right now.

Google said last month that Noto 3D emoji will be available across Google apps and on phones from Nothing, Lenovo, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, realme, vivo, iQOO, HONOR, TECNO, Infinix, itel, and Motorola.

If you’re like me (and some others on Reddit) and couldn’t tell the difference between the older emoji and Noto 3D, Google’s GitHub page makes it easy to compare the 2D and 3D versions to better understand the changes.

Google has clearly put a lot of work behind the scenes to bring the Noto 3D emoji set to life, including factoring in dark-mode visibility and ensuring they’re recognizable even when shrunken down.

While there’s still some confusion about which Pixel phones will see these emoji and when, users will definitely appreciate that they’re on the way.

Do you like the new Noto 3D emoji or did you prefer the older 2D version?