Racially Diverse Emojis: iOS 8.3 Update Makes Good on Emoji Promises

Racially diverse emojis are among the most talked about new features included in Apple’s iOS 8.3 released Wednesday.

The emojis include 300 more symbols and an option to hold down on some emojis to select from six skin tones based on the Fitzpatrick scale, a standard of dermatology.

The new emojis also include representations of same-sex families and 32 new flags.

The push to diversify emojis heated up last year. Apple worked with the Unicode Consortium to update the standard allowing the emojis to be displayed across many platforms.

The update also includes new language choices for Siri, including Russian, Danish, Dutch, Thai, Swedish, Turkish, and Portuguese.

Fortune reported about a new bug with the iOS 8.3 update: When a new emoji is sent to someone who hasn’t updated to the latest operating system, the receiver sees an image of an alien in a box.

The update drew widespread attention on Twitter.

With all the racial tension going on in the united states - the new emoji's couldn't have come at a better time. #WeareallyellowEmoji

— Brandon Meier (@BrandonMeier) April 8, 2015

New emoji board is crazy! Dig the racial equality

— Michael (@mikekarsaliakos) April 8, 2015

They should've made all the emoji yellow and not messed with the racial ones. Seems like it just highlights race.

— ᴊᴀᴄᴏʙ ᴡʜɪᴛᴇ (@JacobEthanWhite) April 8, 2015

It annoys me how #PC America is on the most trivial things. #emoji #racial http://t.co/dag4w8qz2Q

— Bryan Miguel (@BryMiguel) April 8, 2015

aw i love on the new emoji keyboard that not only theyre racially diverse, that they have boy boy girl girl love kissy emojis

— twooo versions (@khaitenenbaum) April 8, 2015

The new racially diverse emoji's should open huge new opportunities for text based racism.

— Guy Williams (@guywilliamsguy) March 22, 2015

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• Apple Emojis to Become More Diverse, Company Says