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    Apple’s Emoji 18.0 update will quietly fix years of cross-platform confusion

    If you’ve ever sent what you thought was a clear butterfly emoji only for your friend to see something totally different, or used a cucumber when you really meant “I’m in a full-on pickle,” Apple is about to make your iMessage life a lot smoother. The latest Unicode release, heading to all capable Apple devices next spring, brings fresh symbols while standardizing old ones so everyone sees the exact same thing.

    Written by Jennifer Daniel (Unicode Emoji Subcommittee Chair), the new additions and refinements tackle exactly the kind of tiny frustrations that break the flow in fast-paced iOS conversations:

    This one hits hard. The Cracked Face emoji visually shows that moment your “everything’s perfect” mask starts to splinter. On Apple devices, it will render with the emotional depth iOS users expect — perfect for those “haha yeah…” replies that actually mean the opposite.

    Yes, we had a cucumber. But a pickle? That’s been through it. The new Pickle separates the fresh veggie from the fermented survivor, giving you the perfect shorthand for “I’m in a situation.” Apple’s crisp rendering will make it pop in every group chat.

    One of the biggest wins: the Monarch Butterfly. Previously, depending on the phone, you might have sent a blue Morpho aesthetic while your recipient saw the iconic orange-and-black traveler. Now standardized, the Monarch brings themes of resilience and long-distance journeys straight to your iPhone keyboard with perfect consistency.

    • Your new symbol for guidance through stormy times.

    • Distinct from the wish-making Comet. Ideal for “everything is exploding” energy.

    • , , and a that works as an action verb — catching vibes, pulling in ideas, or netting chaos.

    These changes reflect Unicode’s ongoing push for better interoperability, and Apple continues to lead by delivering them with beautiful, high-fidelity artwork that feels native to iOS. No more “what does this look like on your end?” texts — just seamless emoji communication.

    Next spring, when these roll out, your keyboard gets richer, your reactions get sharper, and those little digital misunderstandings shrink just a bit more.

    Apple has always treated emoji as a core part of the iMessage experience. With , that experience gets even stronger: more expressive tools, fewer visual mismatches, and designs that take full advantage of Retina displays and Dynamic Island flair.

    For emoji aficionados, Spring 2027 can’t come soon enough!

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    Source link: https://macdailynews.com/2026/07/15/apples-emoji-18-0-update-will-quietly-fix-years-of-cross-platform-confusion/

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    How to block sponsored website shortcuts on Firefox start page

    Learn how to stop Firefox from showing sponsored websites in your shortcuts row on the start page.

    I use Firefox regularly on my Mac alongside Google Chrome and Safari. I particularly use it to watch YouTube and other streaming services as its native Picture and Picture implementation is the best, when compared to other browsers.

    By default, Firefox shows my recently or frequently visited websites on the start page for quick access. But I have customized it to show my most-used websites, like YouTube, Gmail, iDB, and iLoveIMG, in one row (as seen in the image above). However, a while back, I started noticing new websites like SkyScanner appearing in this row with a little ‘Sponsored‘ label.

    I’m all for Firefox making money. Unlike Microsoft Edge, Brave, and countless other browsers, it isn’t built on Chromium, so it offers a genuinely independent alternative to Chrome. This gives me more choice, which is worth supporting.

    But at the same time, I don’t want my curated row of apps to get an unwanted entry after pushing my added website out of view.

    If you think along the same lines, here’s how to stop sponsored websites from showing on your Firefox start page.

    Block sponsored website shortcuts on the Firefox start page

    1. Open Firefox on your Mac or PC.
    2. Click the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner and select Settings.
    3. Select Home and startup in the left sidebar. You can also click the pencil customize icon in the bottom right corner of the start page and select ‘Manage more settings’ to jump directly to this screen.
    4. Scroll down to the Firefox Home section and turn off “Sponsored Shortcuts” to stop seeing ads pushed to your shortcuts row on the browser start page.

    Turning off Sponsored shortcuts in Firefox on Mac

    From this screen, you can also turn off “Sponsored Stories” to stop seeing paid articles and news content in the stories section that shows just under the website shortcuts row.

    Or, just turn off the “Support Firefox” toggle to disable both sponsored shortcuts and stories in one go.

    I’m so thankful that Firefox offers an easy way to turn these off, as you saw above. But if you ever change your mind and think seeing sponsored websites could help you discover something new, just follow the steps above again and turn on the “Sponsored Shortcuts” switch.

    In case you want to see more websites on the start page, click the dropdown menu for “Shortcuts” and select 2, 3, or 4 rows. And if you don’t want to see your added or frequently visited websites, simply turn off the “Shortcuts” switch.

    More on Firefox:

    Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/07/16/block-sponsored-shortcuts-firefox/