In addition to diverse emojis, we’re also getting LGBTQ emojis!
The subject of emojis is near and dear to our hearts and souls. They express our loves, our frustrations, our cravings, and basically our very essence. So of course when Unicode promised more diverse skin tones in November of last year, we were really, really excited, because as of right now we only have white emojis. This racial exclusivity and homogeny is very clearly not OK, and white emojis obviously fail to represent every emoji user. WELL, Apple apparently heard our cries and felt our unhappiness, because yesterday they released the new beta of iOS X, and it carries emojis of various skin tones and (rumor has it) sexual orientations. Hooray, Apple!
According to Forbes, there’s no set date for when iOS 8.3 becomes available, but Recode claims that the release is due in mid-March. So, expect changes to happen pretty soon. As for how the new emojis will look and function? Well, according to Yahoo Tech, you’ll be able to actually choose from five options of skin tones when choosing a face, or hand gesture (like a thumb’s up). It should look something like this:
While we wished this happened sooner (or, you know, in the first place), we’re happy that Apple is finally providing its users with diverse emojis that resonate with EVERYONE. Our own Gina Mei put it simply: “Acknowledging and embracing our diversity, even in this small emoji way, matters! So hooray for the emoji universe expanding to look even slightly more like the many different people who use it.” We’re definitely digging the progress.