You may soon be able to reverse emojis - plus these are the potential new icons

The brains behind the emoji you use on your phone have announced new plans to let you be able to swap the direction each one is facing, with the feature possibly launching at some point in 2018.

Unicode - the official authority behind Emoji - has revealed its beta for Emoji 11 that manufacturers will be basing their updates on. It features 130 emoji that may be brought in at some point in the next year.

New icons that come in the beta include a lobster, partying face, a badger, pirate flag and the infinity symbol.  We won't know for certain what emoji will be joining the roster until March next year, when Unicode reveals the official line up.

Credit: Emojipedia

Credit: Emojipedia

It also may mean we lose some emoji too. Sad pile of poo, OK face and question mark face have all been removed from the beta and we equally won't know if they are set to continue in emoji form until the March announcement.

Credit: Emojipedia

Credit: Emojipedia

The exact line up for the new version of emoji is a long way away from being official, but the idea of being able to reverse certain icons is interesting and in some situations will mean people can use them in a whole new way.

Main image credit: Emojipedia

James Peckham

James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.