14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re one of those people who use emojis even to say hi, this is without a doubt good news.
The Unicode Consortium has added a total of 117 new emojis for the 2020 update, and these are all supposed to become available as part of Android and iOS updates later this year.
The 2020 release includes a total of 62 new emoji and 55 gender and skin tone variants, including emojis like smiling face with tear, disguised face, pinched fingers, person in tuxedo, and main with veil. Some of these come with skin tones.
Additionally, the consortium is also adding dedicated emojis for woman, person, and man feeding a baby, again with skin tones.
There are lots of animals being added in this update, including polar bear, Dodo, seal, beaver, a black cat, and a mammoth. For food, the 2020 release includes flatbread, tamale, fondue, and olive.
Software updates due in the fall
As Emojipedia notes, the new set of emoji includes several gender-neutral versions.
“Variations of existing emojis now approved for 2020 include a woman or gender-inclusive person in a tuxedo, as well as a gender-neutral person or a man in a veil. These, along with other approved emojis, will be coming to phones later this year,” the site notes, adding that a gender-inclusive alternative to Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus called Mx. Claus is also included.
As per the typical schedule, software updates with the new emojis are projected to go live in the second half of the year, so it won’t take long until you’re able to use them all on both desktop and mobile.
As for every release, these emojis are just generic, so each company will come with its own versions for the devices where its software is supposed to be installed.