PETALING JAYA, July 17 –– Ah, emojis. It’s amazing how we’ve managed to create a form of communication so concise that all I need is a semi-colon and bracket symbol to say I’m joking ;)
Today on World Emoji Day, we celebrate their existence and Apple just announced that is adding a whole bunch more of those things to iOS.
How many emojis are we talking about? Think more than 70 new emojis that will be part of the iOS 12 free software update coming later in the year.
The characters are all approved for Unicode 11.0 and it will include more face and hair options. Think red, grey, and curly hair as well as a bald emoji. Also suitable for the age we live in: superhero emojis.
New emoji expressions include a party face as well as one with hearts (probably for the less inventive people for Valentine’s).
Besides faces, Apple has new animal emojis such as the peacock and kangaroo, as well as food emoji additions like the mooncake, mango and lettuce.
If you’re nostalgic for more “old school” emojis, here’s a pro-tip to keep you distracted while waiting for iOS 12.
Download the Japanese keyboard for iOS. Switch to the Japanese keyboard, click on the number/symbol button and you’ll see a shortcut button (next to the exclamation point) for cute text-based emojis.
Enjoy, and try not to annoy everyone with them too often.
