New year, new emojis. Unicode Consortium, the organization that approves and standardizes emojis, approved 230 new emojis that will come to platforms including iOS and Android this year. A large number of the 230 emojis are of couples of different genders and skin tones holding hands. A subset of those emojis include gender inclusive couples for users who do not subscribe to any particular gender. Unicode also expanded emojis to represent more people with disabilities. This includes a deaf person in different skin tones, prosthetic mechanical limbs, a service dog and more.
Emojis are small graphics and smiley faces you can send with your keyboard and incorporate in messages and online text. They are widely used throughout the world and this year’s additions expand to include gender inclusive couples, people with different disabilities and a variety of foods and animals, according to Emojipedia.
Other new emojis include a head of garlic, an otter, a sari and a white heart (which, according to Emojipedia, was one of the most requested emojis).
Used to illustrate emotions and reactions, emojis are incredibly popular with users for day-to-day communication. In 2015 the crying face emoji () was selected as the word of the year and The Emoji Movie, which centered around the lives of emojis, was released in 2017.