Facebook has made a notable change within its Messenger app with the redesign of its emojis. Starting today, not only has the look of the 1,500-plus emojis been modernized, but 100 new ones have been added. And they’re now all supported across all platforms. This means that whether you’re using Facebook Messenger on the Web, desktop, or on mobile devices, the emojis will come across just as you intended.
Not all emojis are created equal, at least not from a technical perspective. We’ve all seen it: You can send a smiley face from an Android app to someone with the iOS version only to have it render differently on their device. In some cases, they might not even see the emoji but rather a broken-looking black box or something nondescript. It’s certainly worth avoiding that kind of glitch in a program that services more than 900 million monthly active users.
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“Emojis have changed the way we talk to each other — whether it’s a smiley face to show you’re happy, a thumbs up, or a pizza when hungry, emojis are a fun, easy way to express yourself when words just aren’t enough — and people love them,” Facebook said in a blog post. “In fact, nearly 10 percent of mobile sends in Messenger include emojis.”
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The social networking company has also followed Apple and Google‘s lead in updating its emojis to include more diversity. Of the more than 100 new emojis, many offer diverse options in terms of gender and skin tones. Facebook said that these gender-agnostic and multi-colored emojis will be available on Android and the Web for the first time and are intended to “create a more balanced mix that’s more representative of our world.” Some of the new emojis in Facebook Messenger include a female police officer, runner, pedestrian, surfer, and swimmer. Others will be rolled out in the future.
Facebook has also added an emoji picker, which promises to help you find the right emoji for the moment. No, the company isn’t using any machine learning or artificial intelligence to scan your conversations and suggest that you use a angry face or a poo emoji. The emoji picker is just a shortcut that allows you to select emojis faster.
You can access the redesigned emojis today in the latest version of Facebook Messenger.
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