The accessibility release
Unicode 12.0 was published on 5 March 2019 and remains the most significant inclusivity update since skin tones. It added the guide dog ๐ฆฎ, manual and motorised wheelchairs ๐ฆฝ๐ฆผ, the probing cane ๐ฆฏ, the mechanical arm and leg, the ear with hearing aid, and the Deaf Person ๐ง. It also introduced mixed-skin-tone couple and handshake sequences, so two people in one emoji could finally have different skin tones.
| Released | |
|---|---|
| New emoji characters | 59 |
| Total including sequences | 230 |
| Emoji in our database | 75 |
The disability emoji in this set were proposed by Apple in partnership with accessibility organisations, and they changed what the standard was understood to be for.
Unicode publishing a standard and your phone drawing the emoji are two separate events, usually months apart. These are the releases that added support.
| Platform | Added in | When |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | iOS 13.2 | October 2019 |
| Android 10 | 2019 | |
| Samsung | One UI 2.0 | 2019 |
Proposed alongside the other accessibility emoji and the most widely adopted of them.
The probing cane, a direct request from blind and low-vision communities.
Paired with the motorised version so users could pick the accurate one.
The powered counterpart.
Signing the gesture for deaf. Available in both gendered and neutral forms.
Boredom and tiredness, and a reliable way to call something dull.
A small amount, often used sarcastically for a tiny gesture of effort.
A long-requested breakfast addition.
Slowness and calm, and an instant favourite.
Added after a sustained public campaign.
A plain ice cube, useful for cold, drinks and indifference.
Space, Saturn, and astrology posts.
The guide dog, the probing cane, manual and motorised wheelchairs, the mechanical arm and leg, the ear with hearing aid, and the Deaf Person. Apple proposed the set in partnership with accessibility organisations, and it is the largest inclusivity change since skin-tone modifiers.
Before Unicode 12.0, an emoji showing two people could only apply one skin tone to both. This release introduced sequences that let each person carry a different tone, which made couple and handshake emoji usable by far more people.
Fifty-nine new code points, which reach 230 once gender, skin-tone and couple sequences are counted. Apple shipped them in iOS 13.2 in October 2019.
See what arrived most recently on our newest emoji page, check which characters people are using right now in trending emoji, or dig into the numbers in our emoji statistics.
Approval is only half the story. To see which iOS release actually put these on a phone, and when, see iOS emoji updates.