The other day I was asked about this "odd" emoji on the iPhone showing half a face. I had no idea what it was so after some googling I learned it was supposed to be their salute one. I'm just curious as why they went with that design compared to other implementations of it. It looks nothing like what the official emoji list shows and horrible compared to the other platforms shown below
iPhone 11, iOS 15
No one here in this user-to-user forum would know why Apple made a particular design decision. And, Apple is unlikely to tell you.
You can, however, let them know your thoughts about it here:
With half of a face?? That's the weird part to me.
I agree with the original poster. It's the half of a face that makes this both strange and less recognizable. (I won't say absolutely unrecognizable, but still less.) Seeing the other versions on emojipedia's website, I agree regarding Facebook's gloved hand being a little bit strange, but the rest look like faces to me.
I've also just submitted actual feedback to Apple through this website's support feedback page, pointing out that Apple's design for the saluting face is *significantly* divergent from all of the other implementations, and that this *significant* difference is also likely to lead to miscommunication due to divergent usage. When an image looks greatly different, it will be used in different ways, and that will hamper communication. People use emoji in great part based on appearance, even if people also use emoji based on official description. I would hazard a guess that far fewer people know or look up the descriptions than see the emoji.
(That's also why I pointed out that Apple's 🫥 looks very different than others -- instead of the designated muted normal neutral face color, they use white or transparency that blends with the breaks. The rest use lighter but recognizable shades of the neutral color, and it's more recognizable. Apple's version looked like sunnrays or a white mask with straps when I first saw it. Perceptions will vary, but it isn't consistent or recognizable enough in my opinion.)
Looks much more like an actual salute than the others; many of which are either a hand blocking the sun, a pat on the head, or some weird kind of white glove with abnormal bent fingers.
Salute emoji
