Microsoft designer says Windows 11 3D emoji are still being worked on

Laurent Giret

Windows 11 may be getting the better-looking 3D emoji the company showed last year after all. If the latest version of Windows did introduce new 2D emoji last year, Nando Costa, Design Leader at Microsoft confirmed that the company is still working on bringing 3D emoji to Windows 11 (via The Verge).

Last week, the designer published a blog post on LinkedIn to discuss the creative process behind Microsoft’s new 3D Fluent emoji we first saw last year. After someone asked Costa on Twitter why these 3D emoji aren’t available on Windows 11, the designer replied “We’re working on that!”

Microsoft showing these 3D emoji last year than shipping the 2D versions on Windows 11 certainly caused some confusion among Windows enthusiasts. At the time, the company admitted that it failed to clearly explain where the 3D emoji would actually appear, which would be only in apps that support them. For now, we only know that the new 2D emoji on Windows 11 are coming soon to Microsoft Teams, and they no doubt look better than the flat style of the Windows 10 emoji.

While we still don’t know when the 3D emojis will come to Windows 11, Costa emphasized that Microsoft’s design team is constantly working on new ideas. “We plan to continue creating new designs every year based on new Unicode releases and will also explore investments in our own exclusive concepts,” the designer said.