The long-awaited update from Apple means that emojis now have all kinds of skin colors, with black emojis being representative of African-American skin tones, causing a stir on Twitter. As reported by People , the new iOS 8.3 update from Apple includes at least 300 new emojis , and it’s notable that accessing those emoticons with different skin tones means holding down a finger on certain emojis until the user is given the option to select from darker skin shades, if available.
Finally, diverse emoji are here! http://t.co/WOPRs5u1ut pic.twitter.com/YE1Fg2c9Sy
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) April 8, 2015
To access the new Apple update, users can select their “Settings” option on their iOS device — be it an iPhone, iPad or iPod — and select the “General” option to find the “Software Update” that allows Apple to check for the iOS 8.3 update to download and install.
Diverse emoji have finally been released with new iOS Apple update http://t.co/06aHmCRne9 pic.twitter.com/SdKdZ1OcjD
— Global Grind (@GlobalGrind) April 8, 2015
The fact that Apple has used the new update to offer more diverse skin tones has made Twitter come alive, with the emoji hashtag offering a diverse amount of reactions to the African-American emojis. Users have noted that none of the family emoticons offer a black families option, but perhaps future software updates will include the option to select African-American skin toned family groupings.
Sorry I never texted you back, your emojis are not reflective of diversity and lack a cultural appropriateness.
— Lawyer Thoughts (@lawyerthoughts) April 9, 2015
Users first got a peek at the black emojis in February, reports TIME , and the African-American skin toned emoticons have proven quite buzz-worthy upon their launch on April 8. However, though skin tone has dominated the conversation of the diversification of emojis, flag emoticons were also updated in the new software update — with Apple adding flags from 32 countries along with technical gadgets.
RT if all your emojis are set to black
— Black Emojis (@ColoredEmojis) April 9, 2015
As reported by the Inquisitr , the absence of black emojis has been a discussion on the lips of many #TeamApple lovers for quite some time.
Some users have vowed to only use the newly diverse emojis from this moment forward, while others are tweeting about the overabundance of interest in the black emoticons.
ok but why don’t these emojis change color pic.twitter.com/sc1CjxWy0L
— violet (@jawlinezjm) April 9, 2015
[Image via Apple]
Apple rolls out more than 300 new racially diverse emojis. http://t.co/o0u4XkRJgz pic.twitter.com/Mww3kzpENt
— KARE 11 (@kare11) April 9, 2015
