New emoji: Apple reveals inclusive new disability and skin tone options

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Apple has revealed a host of new emoji, including far more inclusive options that allow a variety of different people to be represented.

Perhaps the most significant change in the new emoji are new features that almost change how the small characters work. Following on from the option to choose the skin tone of the characters, users will now be able to select different combinations of skin tones.

That means that the emoji intended to represent relationships – the two people of different genders holding hands – can each be changed up to ensure they look more like the people they represent. It allows for more than 75 possible combinations of different skin tones, Apple said.

The company also revealed a set of new disability-themed emoji, which include a new guide dog, an ear with a hearing aid, wheelchairs and a prosthetic arm and leg. "Celebrating diversity in all its many forms is integral to Apple’s values and these new options help fill a significant gap in the emoji keyboard," Apple claimed in a release.

Apple had lobbied with the Unicode Consortium to allow those emoji to come to the keyboard. Though Apple designs the little images itself, what they are is decided by a group of different technology companies to ensure the images look similar across platforms – so adding new ones can be a long and bureaucratic process.

In addition to those emoji focused on diversity and inclusion, a host of other updates focused on new food, animals and activities have also been added.

They include a new smiley face to indicate yawns, and a one-piece swim suit. There are new kinds of food (such as waffles, falafel, butter and garlic) as well as new animals (including a sltoh, flamingo, orangutan and skunk).

In all there will be 59 new emoji designs that will arrive in the autumn. They will come through a software update that will be available across Apple's platforms.

Other services will probably roll out similar new designs around the same time, in accordance with new updates from the Unicode consortium.