Apple is diversifying the range of emoji offered to iOS and OS X users with the addition of new skin tones to emoji that show skin colour (like the hand gestures).
Last year we learned that Unicode version 8.0, which was scheduled for mid-2015, would feature new and highly requested emoji. The Unicode Consortium posted a list of potential candidates that included a hot dog, taco, and unicorn face. However, we can also expect some more skin tones for already popular emoji characters.
TechCrunch reports that these new emoji are already showing up in developer builds of iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10 and points to a Unicode technical draft released last year that promised an increased level of diversity in Unicode 8.0. This draft, co-edited by staffers at Google and Apple, states the emoji characters for people and body parts are meant to be generic but still have a lighter skin tone than desired.
“People all over the world want to have emoji that reflect more human diversity, especially for skin tone,” the document reads. “The Unicode emoji characters for people and body parts are meant to be generic, yet following the precedents set by the original Japanese carrier images, they are often shown with a light skin tone instead of a more generic (nonhuman) appearance, such as a yellow/orange color or a silhouette.”
The document suggested emoji modifier characters that would be used in conjunction with the regular emoji characters to produce a more diverse set of characters. It would seem Apple is giving users a taste of these new character modifiers in new developer preview builds of its desktop and mobile software. There’s also 32 new flags and new Apple Watch and iPhone 6 emoji. To access the new emoji, just tap and hold an emoji character to bring up additional skin tone options.
[source]TechCrunch, Unicode Consortium[/source]
