Apple's New Emoji Will Be More Diverse

— -- Just a few weeks after the announcement that new, more diverse emoji would be coming to smartphones and other devices, Apple said today that it would be adding or redesigning over 100 emoji characters in time for a major software update this Fall.

After a petition was filed by Google employees last month, Unicode -- the organization that governs the emoji characterset, which Apple, Google, and several others are members -- agreed that 11 new professions would be added to the icon group. The professions will come in several skin tones as well as male and female genders.

Apple is in the process of redesigning some of its traditional emoji so that users have more gender options. Apple users will also now be able to use a rainbow flag emoji.

At least some of the characters have been made available to developers who are currently testing and writing software for iOS 10 -- the operating system that powers Apple’s iPhone and iPad, which is set for release to the public this fall.

Unicode decides which characters will be universally available and only provides a broad description of their appearance. Each software manufacturer decides how they will ultimately look.