The roll-out comes about nine months after the Unicode Consortium announced that trans symbols were in the works, and the lidar technology may be useful in helping blind users maintain social distancing amid the pandemic.
by 
Apple’s iOS 14.2 update is showing some love to the LGBTQ community, with a newly-updated emoji list that includes a trans pride flag, the trans symbol, as well as inclusive bride, groom, and parenting options among its list of 117 new emojis.
The update also includes an accessibility feature for blind users, TechCrunch reports. The new iOS comes with a built-in LiDAR sensor, which uses the iPhone’s camera to detect where, and how far away, people are.
The roll-out of the trans emojis comes about nine months after the Unicode Consortium announced that trans symbols were in the works.
According to several news outlets, the new emojis are the result of lobbying on behalf of the LGBTQ community, which has been requesting the trans symbols for years.
When a 2018 update failed to produce them, users began using the lobster emoji, which debuted that year, as a symbol for trans representation, inspired by the activist group Lobsters Against Transphobia.
“Lobsters can be gynadromorphs,” the group said in a 2018 YouTube video.
“A gynadromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. So if we can’t have our flag, we’re taking the lobster.”
Thankfully that era is in the past, with the trans flag joining the rainbow Pride Flag, which was added in 2016, and nonbinary human options that were added in 2019.
The bi pride flag has yet to make it onto the emoji list.
LGBTQ visibility is becoming an increasingly important issue for smartphone users, thanks to the proliferation of Gen Z users in the mobile market. Approximately one-third of Gen Z smartphone users identify as part of the LGBTQ community, and roughly 35 per cent know someone who uses “they/them” pronouns, Business Insider reports.
The full list of new Apple emojis can be found on the Unicode website.
As TechCrunch points out, the LiDAR technology will be especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phones can be configured to send alerts to users when someone is more than six feet away, and another when they come closer. Stereo alerts and haptic pulses that speed up as the person nears can be employed.
Support We Rep STEM and help us create more rad content. That includes recruiting and compensating contributors, because we believe everyone should be paid for their work.
