EmojipediaStop what you’re doing right now and text all your ginger mates! But don’t use words, use emojis! Words are old school baby, get with the times.
Apple sure knows how to hype a product, because I’m pretty sure we’ve been on the verge of having a ginger emoji for quite some time now.
But good news for fans of little heads on phone screens – they are officially here today! That’s right, users of iOS 12.1 can text their way into ecstasy with a shed load of new emojis.
After what feels like a lifetime of anticipation, ginger emojis are here to stay.
Though it has been reported many, many times, it seems the general public at long last have their hands on the long awaited new emojis, as previously they’ve only been available to people with access to the beta previews of the iOS update.
But now they’re public! And it’s Halloween! What a day.
EmojipediaIt’s not just good news for redheads though – kangaroos, lobsters, llamas, skateboards and frisbees now also get their day in the warm blue light of phone screens across the globe.
The latest additions to the emoji family will also feature people who are bald, have grey hair or have curly hair, so no matter what your hair style, there’ll likely be an emoji for you.
According to Apple:
Emoji are used by people all over the world to communicate. iOS 12.1 brings even more characters to the keyboard that better represent global users, including new emoji for moon cake, red gift envelope and nazar amulet.
Sports fans will celebrate the addition of new emoji for softball, frisbee and lacrosse, while outdoor adventurers will enjoy new characters for luggage, compass and a hiking boot to accompany the existing climbing emoji.
Speaking to The Sun last year, YouTuber CopperCab spoke about the importance of adding ginger emojis to the collection:
I STRONGLY feel it’s important that minority groups such as gingers are represented via emojis, because emojis are quite literally the fastest growing language in human history, and it’s being used globally.
No matter where you’re from, or where you’re going… You’re guaranteed to come across emojis… and everyone understands them.
Everybody deserves an emoji, and I’m BEYOND HAPPY that the tech companies have FINALLY made the right decision, by providing us with ginger emojis.
It seems hair in general has been neglected since the dawn of the emoji, but the creators are gradually getting with the times as red, white, curly and bald-headed people will now be represented in the latest update.
There will also be new superhero and supervillain figures supporting different skin tones and genders. The new leg and foot designs will also support the various skin tones.
According to Emojipedia, the new additions to the canon brings the total of approved emojis to 2,823. No wonder it takes so long for me to write a text message these days. But like I said, words are old school, baby, one day all these articles will just be little pictures. Can’t wait.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.