Apple's library of emojis covers a pretty wide range of characters, from every phase of the moon and international holidays and foods, to 1990s technology and a dozen forms of train/trolley/bus transportation.
And while you can send friends icons of people young and old, Asian and Muslim, gay and straight, there are few options to depict African-American users. Now, however, it looks like Cupertino is taking steps to fill that diversity gap.
A company spokeswoman told the MTV Act blog that "we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard."
The thought has surely crossed the mind of many a texter, but it wasn't until a 2012 tweet from Miley Cyrus that the world perked up.
RT if you think there needs to be an #emojiethnicityupdate
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) December 19, 2012The topic came to light again earlier this month, when Tahj Mowry (younger brother of Tia and Tamara) tweeted a similar thought.
It makes me mad that there are no black emojis...
— Tahj Mowry (@Tahj_Mowry) March 16, 2014Apple's current characters are based on the Unicode Standard—a coding system designed to fit worldwide platforms and various language texts. But, as Apple told MTV, "there needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set."
The company gave no indication of when it will update its emojis.
The last major emoji update came in 2012, when Apple released iOS 6, with the addition of two new images representing gay and lesbian couples—two men and two women holding hands. The symbols appear between a traditional heterosexual family and a man and woman kissing under a heart.
This diversity push, however, is not to be outdone by the campaign for the addition of a hot dog emoji, as demanded by Laura Ustick, the general manager of Illinois chain restaurant Superdawg Drive-In.
"People are demanding a hot-dog emoji," Ustick told the Wall Street Journal. "It's a slight against the hot-dog community."
For more, watch PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses Apple's move toward better emoji diversity.