For years, the standard yellow Family Emojis served as a generic representation, often falling short for families of color seeking authentic digital portrayal. These once ubiquitous yellow figures, while seemingly innocuous, highlighted a gap in inclusivity within our digital communication.
Finally, a significant shift in the family emoji landscape has arrived. While perhaps not universally embraced by every individual, the recent update to family emojis undeniably marks a step forward towards greater equality and representation in the digital sphere.
The Transformation: From Yellow Figures to Neutral Silhouettes
The family emojis, previously rendered as collections of yellow-skinned individuals, have undergone a fundamental change. They are now depicted as gender-neutral silhouettes. This change, recommended by the Unicode Consortium in 2023, is now implemented in the iOS 17.4 software update and across other platforms.
Before and after example of family emoji update showing yellow figures replaced by silhouettes
Above: The family emoji set has transitioned from 25 yellow-toned combinations to just four silhouette representations, promoting inclusivity.
Specifically, Unicode’s recommendation involved replacing the existing family emojis with these silhouette designs and introducing four new family combinations to broaden representation. Furthermore, family emojis have been reclassified as symbols, influencing their placement within emoji keyboards. They are no longer grouped with people and couples but are now positioned among symbols, between the 🅿️ P Button and 🎦 Cinema symbol.
Timeline of the Emoji Update
The rollout of these updated family emojis began with the release of iOS 17.4 on March 5, 2024. Users with access to Google’s recent emoji updates may have already encountered these changes in the preceding months. The implementation across Android devices is more varied, with some users seeing the update immediately and others receiving it at a later date. Google’s update, aligning closely with Unicode’s recommendations, initially maintained gendered hairstyles within the silhouettes for pre-existing options.
Interestingly, Samsung devices, as shown on Emojipedia, have adopted the silhouette style for the new family emojis in their One UI 6.0 update. However, a retroactive application of this silhouette style to the original 25 family emoji combinations is not yet apparent on Samsung platforms.
The Rationale Behind Silhouette Family Emojis: Addressing the Diversity Gap
Back in 2020, discussions around family emoji representation were already underway. The core issue was the inherent limitation of yellow-toned emojis, which inadvertently served as a default for white families while failing to adequately represent Black families and other families of color.
A comparison illustrating how yellow family emojis were inadequate for representing black families unlike white families
Above: The previous yellow family emojis were not as inclusive for Black families as they were perceived to be for white families. Image composite from iStockphoto, Apple emoji designs, and Emojipedia.
A 2019 proposal suggesting the creation of 7,230 new family emojis to account for various skin tones and combinations was ultimately declined. This decision led to the adoption of silhouette family emojis as the most viable solution. This “all or nothing” approach, opting for neutral silhouettes, effectively bridges the representation gap by removing any visual cues related to race or gender, making the family emoji set more universally applicable.
Deeper Dive: Unicode’s Path to Emoji Equality
The shift to silhouette-style family symbols was officially sanctioned by Unicode in September 2023 as part of Emoji 15.1. The Unicode Emoji Subcommittee has published several documents detailing the evolution of this decision:
- 2020 Review: “Multi-skintoned Families for Unicode 14.0: Exploration and Recommendations” – This document outlines the initial exploration of various options to enhance skin tone representation in family emojis, ultimately leading to no immediate changes.
- 2022 Proposal: “Guidelines for Family Emoji ZWJ Sequences that currently lack RGI tone support” – This document proposes a new direction forward, eventually culminating in the silhouette solution.
The specific recommendation to replace family emojis with silhouettes directly addresses the challenges of adding skin tone modifiers to the existing “people” emojis, particularly within the family emoji context. Prior discussions and proposals, as referenced in the Unicode documents, highlight the extensive consideration and complex decision-making process that led to the current silhouette family emoji update, prioritizing inclusivity and broader representation within digital communication.
