TORONTO – Patriotic Canadians rejoice! We Canucks finally have our own Canadian flag emoji.
The new emoji was included with Apple’s iOS 8.3 update Wednesday, along with 30 other new country flag options.
Canadians have been protesting the lack of a Canadian flag emoji since 2013, when disgruntled users first has to settle for using the maple leaf emoji when showing their Canadian pride online.
Users also took to Twitter to discuss the new “racially diverse” emoji.
The new diverse emoji have six different options for hair and skin tone. The iterations can be found on characters, such as the princess and hand-raising emoji, and on the symbols, such as the high five and thumbs up.
Previously, emojis only showed “human” characters with Caucasian skin tones. The only emoji with dark skin was wearing what appears to be a religious headdress – something many users found offensive.
The iOS update also includes a number of bug fixes for Apple users, including a fix for intermittent Wi-Fi issues, Bluetooth speaker playback problems and orientation issues.
The update should also help users experiencing problems with app responsiveness and various issues with the Messaging app. A full list of bug fixes associated with iOS 8.3 is available on Apple’s website.
Tip: Users should always back up their device to iCloud or their computer before installing a new operating system, just in case anything goes wrong and data is lost. Apple offers instructions on backing up devices here.
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