Trombone emoji designed by Maryland students headed to iPhones everywhere

The trombone emoji designed by a group of Maryland students is headed to iPhones everywhere.

The instrument was officially adopted by the Unicode Consortium last year and added to its long list of approved emojis. Unicode oversees and ensures that emojis are consistent across platforms. It's a major hurdle for new emojis to pass before companies like Apple and Android will add them to their libraries.

Unicode's approval last July cleared the way for the trombone's inclusion in Apple's next iOS release – 26.4 due out later this month. It is already available for Android users.

The trombone was submitted for approval by a group of students from the Science and Mathematics Academy at Aberdeen High School in 2019. The school credited 2020 and 2021 grads Brendan Althoff, Brandon Brown, Dillon Capalongo, Gabriel Cardell, William Davis, Evan Demos, Nathaniel Dimick, Kristen Doresy, Ian Leach, David Oguh, Cristopher Pappas and Mark Rosser with the design.

The teens said they designed the emoji to represent the "womp womp" sound associated with playful mistakes.

When iOS 26.4 is released in late March, it will include several new emojis. Joining the trombone are a treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature that resembles Big Foot, ballet dancer, an orca, a landslide and a fight cloud.