Facebook has started rolling out a more diverse set of emojis to its Messenger service on the web, iOS and Android.
Facebook Messenger has always allowed you to use the diverse emoji offered via your smartphone or computer. Now, these diverse emojis are baked into Messenger.
With this new update, users will be able to access over 1,500 new emojis — 100 of which were designed “to better reflect gender and skin tones” with gender-agnostic options and multi-colored emojis.
“We’re diversifying the genders to create a more balanced mix that’s more representative of our world,” Facebook wrote in a blog post. “Now, using Messenger emojis, you’ll see a female police officer, runner, pedestrian, surfer and swimmer for the very first time, and we’ll keep rolling these out.”
Whatsapp already has an update like this and now Facebook Messenger has joined in on the fun and will let you set the skin color you prefer your default emojis to be.
Another significant aspect of this roll-out is the placement of emojis within the Messenger app. Before, the emojis on Facebook Messenger’s web app were buried in the back. In the iOS app, they were virtually nonexistent.
Now, the Messenger composer will include an emoji picker located on the left side.
So there you have it, enjoy your new Facebook update and have fun with the new emojis
