The Spock emoji is here — sort of. Apple added support today for the Vulcan salute emoji, the Star Trek-inspired emoji approved as a new Unicode symbol last year.
The new emoji, described by Emojipedia as “a raised hand, with the fingers separated between the ring finger and the middle finger,” is now visible to users on iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3. However, you can’t actually pick the Vulcan salute out of the emoji character sheet just yet.
There’s no word on when Apple will officially add the Spock emoji to the keyboard, but you can start using it right now by following these quick steps.
How to send the Spock emoji (to live long and prosper)
iOS 8.3 includes some huge emoji advancements with the inclusion of more racially diverse characters. But Star Trek fans might be more interested in the new emoji that makes it easier to tell their friends to “live long and prosper.”
Here’s how to use the (at this point hidden) Spock emoji:
1 – Open this tweet on your iPhone.
2 – Copy the Vulcan salute emoji, aka the Spock emoji.
3 – Go to Settings >> General >> Keyboard >> Shortcuts >> +.
4 – Paste the Vulcan salute emoji into the Phrase section.
5 – Create a shortcut, then tap Save.
Now you can quickly type in your shortcut phrase instead of scrolling through the emoji characters to find the Spock emoji. Remember, only your friends who have already updated to iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3 will be able to see your Vulcan salute emoji.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
12 responses to “How to unlock iOS 8.3’s secret Spock emoji”
Really nice how you don’t let anyone know hoe to unlock the emoji. Genius piece.
Sorry guys, WordPress really didn’t like the new emoji. Threw away everything I wrote after inserting it, so I had to create a little tweet workaround instead of displaying on the page.
Dude, don’t leave us hanging!!!! How do you unlock it?
Maybe “WordPress really didn’t like the new emoji” is code for “Apple sent a “Cease And Desist”?
no. they probably haven’t updated support for the new unicode characters yet.
Just updated to iOS 8.3. There is no Vulcan salute emoji.
Sorry,
I’ve followed the instructions, it’s in my Shortcuts, but I’m not able to get it to work.
llap
Grrrr.
Also, if I try to add it in another color, I’m getting an error box that says I can’t use an emoji as a shortcut, when I just did. Not that the first one works…
It’s not really unlocking anything if you have to copy and paste it in.
This really reveals which people are professional assclowns.
Maybe the title of the article should be changed to “work around” instead of unlock, it’s misleading.