Apple’s emoji options are about to get much more diverse.
The company has given developers a new beta of OS X, and inside contains a bunch of new, racially diverse emoji characters.
In the new build, many of the human emoji now allow users to tap and hold to see options for different skin tones, as such:
Apple's iOS 8.3 introduces more diverse emoji http://t.co/eGWeYvlVhQ pic.twitter.com/soAZLwvoFw
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) February 23, 2015
The various skin tones are also available on emojis featuring hands and other body parts.
Apple's new emoji will include a wide range of skin colors. See them here http://t.co/9DyxqDKGhE pic.twitter.com/vxPG68wKYQ
— Fortune Magazine (@FortuneMagazine) February 24, 2015
Apart from the new human emoji, Apple is adding new family emoji to include more diverse compositions – as well as new country flags.
There’s also going to be an emoji for the Apple Watch, because of course there is.
Emoji is controlled by the Unicode Consortium, and late last year the organization decided to add more diversity to the standard emoji set. This is something people had been demanding for some time:
RT if you think there needs to be an #emojiethnicityupdate
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) December 19, 2012
Most will say this is well overdue. They’re not wrong.