Culture
The smiley emoji shedding a single tear in iOS 14.2 is all of us
The beta shows some beloved foods and diverse characters are also on the way. Bubble tea!
While iOS 14.2 is still in beta, that doesn't mean we can't have a jolly good time with the upcoming emoji additions. According to Emojipedia, iOS 14.2's new emojis are all about gender neutrality, anatomy, everyday activities, food, and more. The standout, though? A smiling face with a single teardrop — who hasn't felt like that, especially considering current circumstances?
The iOS 14.2 update is scheduled for October this year, bringing new faces, items (a sewing needle!), and heck, even a hug, because we certainly all need one now.
Here's what you can expect — According to Emojipedia, the latest update for the iPhone operating system will offer emojis like a disguised emoji with a nose and spectacles mask on it; a hand gesture that can be used as an Italian gesticulating style, a Middle Eastern hand gesture for "a little," or whatever you want it to be; a heart with a highly realistic valve and chamber; equally realistic lungs; a ninja; a woman in a tuxedo; an elderly man and woman in a wedding gown; multiple genders feeding a milk bottle to an infant; Mrs. Claus; a hugging emoji; a black cat; a bison (yes); a mammoth; and more.
It gets even more detailed from there. iOS 14.2 gives you the option to share emojis for a beetle, cockroach, fly, worm, a house plant, blueberries, olive, a green pepper, and tamale as well as a matryoshka, bubble tea, a needle, flip-flops, military helmet, a boomerang, a saw, ladder, and even a trap for a mouse.
Keeping up with the gender neutrality initiative as well as increasing inclusivity, iOS 14.2 will also likely arrive with the light blue, pink, and white flag for the transgender community. As for its hug emoji, it's initially difficult to spot in the list of new emojis but it shows that Apple wants to convey the feeling of an embrace without differentiating details like skin tone, gender, hair detail, and more. By stripping it to its basics, Apple made "People Hugging" a lot more inclusive.
Nice work, Apple — This is yet another improvement to Apple's emoji game. In recent developments, Apple finally gave people the option to search for emojis by simply jotting down a commonly used word or phrase for the kind of emoji they were looking for. For example, writing "angry" will yield emojis such as 😡, 🤬, 😠, 😤, and the sort. Now you can talk entirely through emojis and memes.