Single-Parent Family Emojis Are Coming

On Monday, Apple announced some new updates to the Unicode emoji collection, which is coming out this fall with the new iOS 10 updates. So what does Apple have to offer with their new update? Well, there will be over 100 new emoji characters, including more family options. Apple first announced an emoji update in June, during the Worldwide Developers Conference, noting that with the update, you could make emojis three times bigger and turn specific words into emojis by holding them down. Apple waited until Monday to announce new characters and more diverse family options.

Up until now, there haven't been any single-parent family emoji options. According to the Apple Newsroom press site, the iOS 10 emoji updates will add new family options, which include single-parent families. You can choose a family with just a mom or just a dad, and have multiple options with the number of children. The newest batch of emoji families will still only come in the standard yellow option.

The choice to feature a single-parent emoji is especially important in terms of representation. According to a study from the Pew Research Center, less than half of kids in the U.S. have a "traditional family," and at least 34 percent of children live in a household with an unmarried parent. The study also clarified that in most of these cases, the unmarried parent also does not have a partner.

These new and improved emojis will be rolling out this fall.

Images: Apple Newsroom (1)