41
/
AIzaSyB4mHJ5NPEv-XzF7P6NDYXjlkCWaeKw5bc
May 31, 2026
996222
81314
2
Public Timelines
FAQ

apr 8, 2015 - iOS 8.3 is released

Description:

One of the biggest arguments amidst the politicization of emojis was the fact that most, if not all of the human emojis were white or a "neutral" yellow. A huge number of people argued for emojis with a wider range of skin tone, and iOS 8.3 delivered that. This was the first big step the emoji took toward creating a diverse environment. Since then, Apple and Unicode have been continuously updating their inventory to include emojis of different professions, people of color in those professions, LGBTQ relationships/families, and more (Pardes, 2018).

At first, many people celebrated at the fact of having more diverse emojis, but others were quick to use them in problematic contexts (e.g. racist "jokes"). While this quickly became an issue, Apple and Unicode never removed the feature and skin tones are still available to this day (Tutt, 2015).

Added to timeline:

Date:

apr 8, 2015
Now
~ 11 years ago

Images: