On Wednesday, April 8, 2015, Apple released their iOS 8.3 update, the third major update to the iOS 8. The iOS 8.3 brings several new keyboard updates, featuring 300 more graphics, such as the release of racially and familial diverse emojis!
Apple users have been waiting for this release since the proposal was submitted last November. One of the most talked about feature is the option to choose from six different tones. “These characters are based on the six tones of the Fitzpatrick scale, a recognized standard for dermatology. The exact shades may vary between implementations,” according to Unicode Consortium, the organization that normalizes computer language and is responsible for emojis.
Not only does it feature a variety of different skin tones and same-sex families, but it also includes new flag, animal, food, and object options. However, these diverse emojis don’t work on a diverse array of devices yet. Without this new update, Twitter users will see an alien emoji in replace of the new emojis.
There are other valuable features to this update, but the racially and familial diverse emojis finally make finding “someone like you” available through Apple Products. Of course there will be some who don’t like this new feature, but we should all recognize that this new feature stems to encompass all types of people and encourages equality through media.