Culture

The 300 New Emojis Also Include Sisqó, People Smelted In Gold, Same Sex Parents And Black Santa

Here's how you can get 'em.

by Meg Watson  9 April 2015

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Five months after their first announcement, and a full year after a huge petition calling for change, racially diverse emojis have finally arrived. Taking a huge step forward from that one happy Indian guy in a turban, people of colour are now represented in all shapes and forms with an updated catalogue of 300 new emojis.

salsa

Multicultural salsa lady celebration!

In the likely event that you would like to begin furiously bombarding your friends with pictures of Black Santa — yup, he exists — you can access all these new emojis right now by updating your Apple software. Grab your phone, make sure your shit is backed up, head to Settings, scroll to General, then download iOS 8.3 via Software Update. Make sure your friends do the same too; any new emojis you send will come through as little alien faces to those still behind the times.

The update also comes with a few more general bug fixes and a large redesigned emoji keyboard which makes it easier to flick through all the options. To access most of the racially diverse options, you just have to hold down the emoji you want and scroll up to a new skin colour.

emoji3

Before you ask — no, no one really seems to know why all the default images are an ungodly mix of Lego and The Simpsons. Just accept it and move on.

Other notable additions include 32 new national flags, an Apple Watch, same-sex couples getting all lovey, and ’90s thong enthusiast Sisqó.

sisqo

Weirdly, even with this big focus on multiculturalism, the catalogue is still missing any interracial couples. But, as they’re all in default bile yellow, it’s not like they’re normalising any one group in particular.

Behold, the unlikely face of racial harmony: