A Canadian flag emoji is included among Apple’s new, racially-diverse icons

The World
A sample of the updated emojis seen in the beta versions of Apple OS X 10.10.3 and iOS 8.3 released to developers.

Two thumbs up and smiley face icon.

Canada has finally made its way onto the emoji keyboard.

Apple released the newest beta versions of iOS and OSX to developers on Monday, and screenshots of the redesigned emoji character set are circulating around the web.

The current emoji keyboard includes national flag emojis for 10 countries: China, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and of course — the US.

The new emoji keyboard will also include 30 new country flag options – including a Canadian flag.

The countries to be represented in the next version of iOS and OS X.
The countries to be represented in the next version of iOS and OS X.emojipedia.org

The change comes after years of Canadian users complaining about the lack of representation.

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Apple will also be offering more racial diversity in the next version of emojis. There a five different skin tones, in addition to the default (yellow) skin tone.

The current emoji keyboard only shows characters with Caucasian skin tones. The only dark skined emoji is wearing what appears to be a religious headdress — something many users found offensive.

The five new color tones available later this year.
The five new color tones available later this year.emojipedia.org

The other major change is to the family emoji.

Currently, the family emoji displays only two parents (male and female) and one (male) child.

Options for the new character set will include any variety of two adults (men, women, or mixed), with one, or two children (boys, girls, or mixed). 

New family emoji icons.
New family emoji icons.emojipedia.org

Apple is reportedly planning a public beta program which will kick off in mid-March. 

So there's still time to make Canadians even happier.

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