(Forbes) Emojis are small digital images that are accessible through virtual keyboards used for expressing emotions on smartphones, tablets and PCs. If you enjoy using emojis on your iPhone, then you may be happy to hear that 300 more have been added to the keyboard in iOS 8.3. The current set of emojis include an Asian man wearing a gua pi mao cap and an Indian man wearing a turban, but there are no black people represented. This will change when Apple AAPL +1.32% devices are updated with iOS 8.3 because several of the tiny cartoon emojis will be available in six new skin tones.
Apple is also adding many more relationship- and gadget-related emojis. For example, same-sex relationship emojis like families with two mothers and two fathers will be added. The new gadget emojis that are being added includes an iPhone 6 and an Apple Watch as a replacement to the traditional watch digital image. Emojis for 32 more country flags will also be added in iOS 8.3. iOS 8.3 is available for developers now and should be released to the public within the next few months. The diverse emoji options will be applied to the new version of Mac OS X too
Created in Japan in the 90’s, emojis were eventually incorporated into Unicode. The Unicode Consortium finalizes the icons to ensure a consistent experience across multiple platforms. Last November, the Unicode Consortium said that they are planning to have more diverse emojis in 2015. “Apple supports and cares deeply about diversity, and is working with The Unicode Consortium to update the standard so that it better represents diversity for all of us,” said an Apple spokesperson via ABC.
