Google has begun its rollout of support for Emoji 12.1, at least for Pixel owners, providing 168 new emojis to those on Google devices.
This update brings the latest gender neutral emojis such as a non-gender-specific Cook, a Person with Red Hair, as well accessibility-focused emojis such as Person With Probing Cane - all of which previously had options only for Women or Men.
Above: all 168 new Emoji 12.1 emojis now available via Android 10.1. Image: Google / Emojipedia composite.
Announced as part of 'more features dropping for Pixel', this update isn't a general Android release available to all phones - though presumably the same emojis will be included as part of a future Android update, and not stay Pixel-exlusive like other 'Pixel Feature Drop' additions.
All 168 new emojis included in this update were approved last year as part of Emoji 12.1; which was an off-cycle minor emoji release that filled in some gaps created by gender neutral and hand-holding sequences from Emoji 12.0 earlier in the year.[1]
Each of these new emojis are constructed using zero-width-joiner (ZWJ) sequences, which all use existing emoji codepoints to create the new gender inclusive options.
All 168 of the new emojis are available via the latest version of the Gboard keyboard.
Above: the three gender options for the ๐งโ๐ค Singer emoji in the March 2020 Pixel Feature Drop.
๐ New
For the first time on Android, the new hair styles added in Emoji 11.0 have gender inclusive options.
Above: New gender-neutral emojis with various hair styles in Android 10.1. Image: Google / Emojipedia composite.
- ๐งโ๐ฆฐ Person: Red Hair
- ๐งโ๐ฆฑ Person: Curly Hair
- ๐งโ๐ฆณ Person: White Hair
- ๐งโ๐ฆฒ Person: Bald
There are also three new non-gender-specific emojis using a ๐ฆฏ Probing Cane, ๐ฆฝ Manual Wheelchair, or ๐ฆผ Motorized Wheelchair.
Above: New accessibility-focused gender neutral emojis. Image: Google / Emojipedia composite.
- ๐งโ๐ฆฏ Person With Probing Cane
- ๐งโ๐ฆผ Person in Motorized Wheelchair
- ๐งโ๐ฆฝ Person in Manual Wheelchair
Also included in this 'feature drop' are 16 existing professions which now have gender neutral variants.
Above: New profession-based emojis without a gender specified. Image: Google / Emojipedia composite.
- ๐งโโ๏ธ Health Worker
- ๐งโ๐ Student
- ๐งโ๐ซ Teacher
- ๐งโโ๏ธ Judge
- ๐งโ๐พ Farmer
- ๐งโ๐ณ Cook
- ๐งโ๐ง Mechanic
- ๐งโ๐ญ Factory Worker
- ๐งโ๐ผ Office Worker
- ๐งโ๐ฌ Scientist
- ๐งโ๐ป Technologist
- ๐งโ๐ค Singer
- ๐งโ๐จ Artist
- ๐งโโ๏ธ Pilot
- ๐งโ๐ Astronaut
- ๐งโ๐ Firefighter
Lastly, some new additions expand on the skin tone options for ๐งโ๐คโ๐ง People Holding Hands, ๐ญ Women Holding Hands, and ๐ฌ Men Holding Hands.
As per Emoji 12.1 now the order of skin tones can also be chosen by the user.
For example ๐ฉ๐ฟโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ป Women Holding Hands: Dark Skin Tone, Light Skin Tone was available last year, yet the opposite sequence of ๐ฉ๐ปโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฟ Women Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone is new in this release.
Both feature a woman with dark skin tone and one with light skin tone, but the new sequence places each person on the opposite side.
Above: New combinations of ๐งโ๐คโ๐ง People Holding Hands, ๐ญ Women Holding Hands, and ๐ฌ Men Holding Hands in Google's March 2020 Pixel Feature Drop. Image: Google / Emojipedia composite.
- ๐ง๐ปโ๐คโ๐ง๐ผ People Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Light Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ปโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฝ People Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ปโ๐คโ๐ง๐พ People Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ปโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฟ People Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ผโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฝ People Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ผโ๐คโ๐ง๐พ People Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ผโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฟ People Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ฝโ๐คโ๐ง๐พ People Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐ฝโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฟ People Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ง๐พโ๐คโ๐ง๐ฟ People Holding Hands: Medium-Dark Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ปโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ผ Women Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Light Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ปโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฝ Women Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ปโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐พ Women Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ปโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฟ Women Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ผโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฝ Women Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ผโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐พ Women Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ผโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฟ Women Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ฝโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐พ Women Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐ฝโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฟ Women Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐ฉ๐พโ๐คโ๐ฉ๐ฟ Women Holding Hands: Medium-Dark Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ปโ๐คโ๐จ๐ผ Men Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Light Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ปโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฝ Men Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ปโ๐คโ๐จ๐พ Men Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ปโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฟ Men Holding Hands: Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ผโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฝ Men Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ผโ๐คโ๐จ๐พ Men Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ผโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฟ Men Holding Hands: Medium-Light Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ฝโ๐คโ๐จ๐พ Men Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Medium-Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐ฝโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฟ Men Holding Hands: Medium Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
- ๐จ๐พโ๐คโ๐จ๐ฟ Men Holding Hands: Medium-Dark Skin Tone, Dark Skin Tone
๐ Changed
This latest emoji release from Google changes 18 previously-released emoji designs (108 when you include skin tone modifer variations).
๐ฉโโ๏ธ Woman Health Worker and ๐จโโ๏ธ Man Health Worker now each have a stethoscope with more distinct gray ear tips and bell.
๐จโ๐ค Man Singer is now wearing teal instead of red, in keeping with Google's gender-based clothing colors for their people emoji designs.
๐ฉโ๐พ Woman Farmer and ๐จโ๐พ Man Farmer are now holding a pitchfork instead of an ๐พ Ear of Rice.[2]
๐ฉโ๐ฌ Woman Scientist and ๐จโ๐ฌ Man Scientist are now holding a Erlenmeyer flask instead of a test tube.
๐ถ Release
Devices now receiving Google's March 2020 Pixel Feature Drop include Pixel 4, Pixel 4XL, Pixel 3, and Pixel 2.
It's not clear whether this emoji release schedule indicates a new path forward for Google: offering Pixel owners new emojis ahead of other non-Pixel Android phones. Or if this is simply an anomoly given the unusually timed Unicode Emoji 12.1 update in late 2019.
Some apps may support new emojis, even on older Android versions, if the app supports Google's EmojiCompat library.
A reminder: these updates do not apply to those with Samsung devices. Samsung has its own emoji set which is updated on a separate schedule to Google's Android emoji updates. Apps on Android such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook also use their own custom emoji implementations.
- [Every emoji in Android 10.0 March 2020 Feature Drop](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-10.0-march-2020-feature-drop /)
- [New emojis in Android 10.0 March 2020 Feature Drop](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-10.0-march-2020-feature-drop /new/)
- [Changed emojis in Android 10.0 March 2020 Feature Drop](https://emojipedia.org/google/android-10.0-march-2020-feature-drop /changed)
- Previous Android (10.0) Emoji Changelog
In fact, it was a proposal by Google's Jennifer Daniel to the Unicode Consortium's Emoji Subcommittee in April of 2019 that lead to the creation of Emoji 12.1. โฉ๏ธ
This is an interesting change considering that the ๐งโ๐พ Farmer emoji is created via a zero width joiner (ZWJ) sequence between a person emoji (i.e. ๐ฉ Woman, ๐ง Person, or ๐จ Man) and the ๐พ Ear of Rice emoji. However, Google is not the first vendor to display a pitchfork: Facebook, Twitter, JoyPixels, and OpenMoji all currently do the same. โฉ๏ธ