WhatApp’s Emoji Adventures: From Non-RGI Flags To Brand Deals – Emojipedia Blog

This week marks both World Emoji Day and the final matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Last month, ahead of the tournament’s kick-off, WhatsApp announced a partnership with Adidas to update its ⚽ Soccer Ball emoji to match the “Trionda,” the tournament’s official match ball. While highly unusual in the world of emoji, this is neither WhatsApp’s first sponsored emoji redesign nor the first time it has notably diverged from other vendors. Editor’s Note: This article’s title references our 2017 post Samsung’s Emoji Adventures , as well as a subection of this 2021 article . It is intended as a companion piece to our A Timeline of Twemoji: 2014 – 2025 article published for World Emoji Day 2025. Released on June 4, 2026, the ⚽ Soccer Ball emoji was updated not only across WhatsApp for Android and WhatsApp Web, but also within the WhatsApp for iOS app. This is particularly notable because, since introducing its own emoji design set in 2017, WhatsApp has generally continued to rely on Apple’s native emoji rendering on iOS while reserving its custom designs for Android and Web. However, this is not the first time WhatsApp has overridden Apple’s default emoji rendering within its
Read More