There’s now an emoji for everyone!
Remember when we talked about Unicode adding more emojis to the already bursting list of emojis? Well, after coming under fire for its lack of diversity in emojis, Apple has now teamed up with Unicode to release a new set of emojis.
In Apple’s next update of emoji icons/characters, a number of the tiny cartoon people are now available in six different skin tones. Also available in different colours are the male and female faces, as well as thumbs up and thumbs down icons. Other emoji characters such as princesses and construction workers, will also receive more diverse options. Users can access these new emoji characters by tapping and holding on a character as it will bring up the new skin-tone variations. The diverse people are just some of the 300 new emojis included in the newest developer version of iOS 8.3.
Apple pledged to up the diversity in its emoji keyboard last March, after a public outcry over the limited options for people of colour. A petition at DoSomething.org obtained thousands of signatures and Miley Cyrus even tweeted about it, helping it to go viral on Twitter.
The current illustrated icons includes an Asian man wearing a traditional Chinese cap and an Indian man in a turban, but the rest of the emoji population is light-skinned. Apple will also adding 32 new country flags and an expanded selection of family icons that include more same-sex couples. Unfortunately, the new icons won’t be available to the public for the update will only be released later this year.
Source: CNN Money
