Gboard has emojis, which are a must-have in today’s communication and after realizing that the emojis for Android 17 were in need of some visual refresh, Google has revealed a cool redesign. Google also announced some big AI features for Android 17, including Gemini Intelligence, Android support for Gemini in Chrome and a Rambler tool for Gboard that uses AI to take conversational speech and turn it into a readable message.
Ahead of next week’s big Google I/O 2026 event, Google hosted The Android Show: I/O Edition 2026 on Tuesday, a YouTube livestream where the company teased some of the new features coming to Android 17 later this year.
Noto 3D, a new emoji design language, will be available in Android 17. Emojis will be upgraded to 3D, as the name suggests. Based on the images Google displayed both online and during the webcast, the new emojis should look better than the earlier Noto counterparts. In a press statement, Google stated that the 3D emojis will add “a touch of physicality” to conversations, implying that the makeover is more expressive.
Google clarified:
“It’s the difference between a message received and a presence felt”.
Users can compare the present designs (picture above) with the Noto 3D makeover (image below) using the same set of emojis given by Google. As you can see in the following screenshot, the use of light and shadows makes a clear depth effect, and the colors are more vivid and stand out.
Nearly 4,000 emojis have been manually improved by Google “to be richer, more delightful, and more true to how you can actually express yourself.”Android users will have to wait to use them, though. During the event, Google said that the new emojis will launch later this year, beginning with Pixel devices. This shows that Google will roll out the new design after the first stable version of Android 17 is launched. Later this summer, the software ought to be accessible.
Along with a number of earlier Pixel generations that will receive the Android 17 upgrade, it is likely that the Pixel 11 series, which is also anticipated this summer, will support the new emojis. The new Google emojis may be supported by other suppliers within particular Google apps. The Noto 3D emojis will be supported by the Gboard keyboard app, YouTube, and Gmail, according to the company.
For both new and old smartphones, some companies could have their own emoji designs. Additionally, non-Pixel devices won’t receive the Android 17 upgrade at the same time as Pixels. As a result, some Android users will have to wait longer for the Noto 3D emojis and the Android 17 update.
Lastly, a number of new emojis might be added when the Noto 3D emoji set launches. When all potential skin tone and gender combinations are taken into consideration, the Emoji 17.0 set, which is scheduled to launch in early September, will have 163 new emojis.
