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Do you ever use emoji when sending a text or email? I've heard some adults say they would never use an emoji. They argue that only a child would resort to such a ridiculous form of communication.

I say they're nuts! 🤪

Adding an emoji can provide unspoken context to written communication, giving the recipient important clues about the sender’s state of mind. The right emoji can tone down constructive criticism or signal that a remark is steeped in sarcasm.

It's a shorthand way to make sure the reader understands what you’re really trying to say.

Emoji also can keep you from sticking your foot in your mouth. One time, a friend of mine received a string of infuriating text messages from his wife. He got angry and started to reply, but I told him he should use emoji instead.

He followed my advice. Was it genius-level communication? Maybe not. But it defused the situation. And they're still married.

So what’s next for emoji? Sometime in 2025 (or possibly 2026), we should receive a fresh batch of emoji.

Among the new options proposed by the Emoji Standard & Research Working Group are "hairy creature" (basically Bigfoot) and "apple core,” the latter of which might come in handy for Cult of Mac Today readers. There's also a "fight cloud,” which perhaps my friend could have used all those years ago.

The bad news is that the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit that decides which emoji will make the cut, likely will take its sweet time giving its stamp of approval. So, if you had your heart set on sending a Bigfoot emoji, you can expect to wait a while.

The good news is, Genmoji — a new Apple Intelligence feature coming in iOS 18.2 next month — will let you create any emoji you can dream up. In fact, I used the free public beta of iOS 18.2 to create my own Bigfoot emoji this morning.

My wife loved it.

Also in today’s newsletter:

• We might have found the perfect iPad case.

• I’m psyched about season two of post-apocalyptic sci-fi show Silo, which just arrived on Apple TV+. If you’re not yet a fan, we’ve got three reasons you should be watching Silo.

• You can print photos directly from your iPhone with this fun gadget.

• A surprising number of readers responded to yesterday’s simple poll — “Mouse or trackpad?” — saying they used both a mouse and a trackpad. The poll also elicited a lot of rodent jokes (but no 🐀 or 🐭 or 🪤 or 🐁). See the best comments below.

— Lewis Wallace, managing editor

^{A message from Masterworks}

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^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

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Wallpaper of the day

One more thing ...

Today’s poll

Results from yesterday’s poll: Mouse or trackpad?

Best reader comments

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