Breastfeeding mothers, women wearing hijabs, and gender neutral individuals are about to be officially recognized … as emoji. They’ll be joined by much-anticipated expressions, such as ‘swear face’ and ‘mind-blown,’ food including broccoli and dumplings, fantasy figures like vampires and zombies, and the last remaining heart in the colour rainbow when Apple releases its latest software update next week. Even a bearded man and yoga masters will make an appearance for the hipster crowd. The new
additions are part of a 2017 emoji update decided upon by emoji non-profit governing body, the Unicode Consortium, who sets the global standard for the colorful characters and ensures they can work across software platforms. But the Apple updates will arrive at a challenging time for emoji, amid claims a Facebook-owned app has stolen the iPhone company’s thunder, and amid less blob-shaped emoji from Google. READ MORE
