Apple emojis are set to become reversible, letting users swap their direction, according to a beta list of next year’s proposed icons.
Unicode, the organisation that controls them, has revealed a number of new additions to the emoji set due to appear in 2018.
The list also includes redheads, bald people, curly hair, superheroes, a bagel, a lacrosse stick and many more.
Apple emojis are set to become reversible, letting users swap their direction, according to a beta list of next year’s proposed icons. Unicode, the organisation that controls them, has revealed a number of new additions to the emoji set due to appear in 2018
Apple angered a lot of redheads with by overlooking them in its newest iOS update, but the proposed 2018 list includes a number of redhead options
Emoji 11.0, previously referred to as Emoji 6, has been a work in progress over the course of 2017.
Fans have stepped forward to suggest their own ideas for what should be included in the final release, due in the second half of 2018.
Other emoji candidates featured in the announcement were a softball, cupcake, kangaroo, teddy bear, mango, party face, skateboard, a spool of thread, swan, badger, infinity symbol and apirate flag.
With the reversible function, users would finally be able to have the train, runner, or the gun emoji face left or right.
Writing in the draft document, a Unicode spokesman said: ‘Emoji with glyphs that face to the right or left may face either direction, according to vendor preference.
‘However, that can cause a definite change in meaning when exchanging text across platforms.
‘The following ZWJ mechanism can be used to pick an explicit direction.’
Apple angered a lot of redheads with its newest iOS update.
The beta list also features bald people, as well as characters with curly and grey hair. The final release is due in the second half of 2018
Other emoji candidates featured in the announcement were a softball, cupcake, kangaroo, teddy bear, mango, party face, skateboard, a spool of thread, swan, badger, infinity symbol and a pirate flag
On October 31, the company released iOS 11.1, which, in addition to some bug fixes, added 70 new emojis.
But while some customers were thrilled to finally get the broccoli or giraffe emojis they’ve been desperately waiting for, many were upset about the emojis that were not included.
At the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) meeting, held at Apple In November, Jeremy Burge, the Editor in Chief of Emojipedia, said: ‘The most common feedback to Emojipedia since Apple released iOS 11.1 has been ‘but what about the red heads”.
The new draft for 2018 emoji include both redhead and curly haired emoji, and if approved could come to phones around the middle of next year
Both male and female bald heads will be available alongside the male and female redheads
THE GREAT POOMOJI DEBATE
Whether you love it or hate it, Unicode’s smiling poo emoji has become a ubiquitous fixture of digital communication; it’s frequented ‘most popular’ lists for years, and inspired everything from clothing and plush pillows to baked goods.
But, the seemingly innocuous character now has typography experts up in arms.
The emoji that aren’t to be: These three designs were cut from the proposal
A recent proposal to add a ‘Frowning Pile of Poo’ has sparked a heated debate among contributors, with some arguing that doing so will lead to other unnecessary poo emotions – and, to put it simply, they ‘don’t want this kind of crap’ on their phones.
For now, it appears the concerns have been heard; Unicode revealed today that the frowning poo has been removed from the 2018 shortlist.
It will be reviewed again in January.
‘Don’t worry redheads: your feedback has been heard!’
The Apple update, which is now available for download on iPhones, has many of the new emojis from the Unicode Consortium’s release earlier this year.
There’s are more people and faces, including a breastfeeding woman, an exploding head smiley face, a vomiting face, a shushing face, and a person doing yoga, as well as new flags and articles of clothing like a scarf and baseball cap.
New animals include hedgehogs, giraffes, crickets, and dinosaurs, while additional food includes apple pie, dumplings, broccoli, and a takeout box.
Cupcakes will also finally appear, along with an option for grey hair
Superheroes have also made the cut for 2018, along with cupcakes and bagels
New emojis are agreed upon at the Unicode Consortium, and more are sure to be added in the future.
Some requests for 2018 seem more popular than others, like customers who want to see cupcakes, softball players, and chicken nuggets in their emoji keyboards.
For the Apple set, users will need iOS 11.1 or later to both send and receive the new characters.
Without it, they won’t find them in the keyboard and will only receive generic blocks and broken up emoji in place of the new characters.