I've searched high and low to find a way to make Python accept Apple's iOS characters, but it looks like Python is not supporting greater than 16-bit characters correctly. If you look at the leading character of each group, it's \xf0, indicating a 4-character sequence, which also indicates greater than 16-bit characters. I've tried all three "errors" arguments to decode - ignore, replace, and strict - and still get this error each time:

UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode characters in position 140: character maps to <undefined>

So I have no way to proceed short of rolling my own corrected unicode decoder. My assumption is that Python should convert a character regardless of whether it's found in the internal lookup database, or at a minimum there should be a way to signal Python to do so.

Below is a sample bytes string that will reproduce the problem:

b'<?xml version=\'1.0\' encoding=\'utf-8\'?>\n  <dict>\n   <key>\n    average-user-rating\n   </key>\n   <real>\n    1\n   </real>\n   <key>\n    text\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    \xf0\x9f\x8e\x84\xf0\x9f\x8e\x85\xf0\x9f\x8e\x81\xf0\x9f\x8e\x84\xf0\x9f\x8e\x85\xf0\x9f\x8e\x81  if you haven&#39;t checked this out yet please do. download APP TRAILERS and go to videos use promo code FREE4U and enjoy free apps courtesy of apple MERRY CHRISTMAS \xf0\x9f\x8e\x84\xf0\x9f\x8e\x85\xf0\x9f\x8e\x81\xf0\x9f\x8e\x84\xf0\x9f\x8e\x85\xf0\x9f\x8e\x81\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    title\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    4. IF YOU LOVE FREE STUFF (v1.5)\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    type\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    review\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    user-name\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    Freenesss on Dec 16, 2011\n   </string>\n  </dict>\n  <dict>\n   <key>\n    average-user-rating\n   </key>\n   <real>\n    0.8\n   </real>\n   <key>\n    text\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    This application is very cool .. I hope only be added to the dictionary other languages \xe2\x80\x8b\xe2\x80\x8b..\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    title\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    8. the dictionary (v1.5)\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    type\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    review\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    user-name\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    Rnaa on Dec 16, 2011\n   </string>\n  </dict>\n  <dict>\n   <key>\n    average-user-rating\n   </key>\n   <real>\n    1\n   </real>\n   <key>\n    text\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    Hey I&#39;m 13 trying to b discovered plz check my 1st video out on you tube its called speak now cover  by Bekka burton thnx and I luv luv luv this app\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    title\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    9. Love this app+check me out on you tube (v1.5)\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    type\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    review\n   </string>\n   <key>\n    user-name\n   </key>\n   <string>\n    Lol\xee\x84\x86 on Dec 16, 2011\n   </string>\n  </dict>\n'

(Obviously, stripped down to not-well-formed XML, but for conversion purposes that's irrelevant.)