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Facebook Messenger puts 1500 new, more diverse emoji in its users’ arsenal

Facebook announced today that it is adding over 1,500 new emoji to Facebook Messenger. The company made the announcement on the Messenger Facebook page, explaining that the new emoji bring a lot more diversity to the service.

From skin tones that you can choose to lots of women in great roles, Messenger is beginning to make emojis more representative of the world we live in.

The new emoji are largely similar to what was added in iOS last year. Facebook, however, says that Messenger is the first platform to include “a female police officer, runner, pedestrian, surfer, and swimmer,” while it also notes that many more new, diverse emoji are still set to come in the future.

Furthermore, Facebook says that it is making a change to how it handles the displaying of emoji. In the past, some users would see emoji that were native to the device they were using, while some would see Facebook’s own emoji. Now, however, everyone will see the Messenger emoji. Facebook says that this will ensure that no one will see “broken-looking black boxes or emojis that just don’t make sense.”

Finally, Messenger now includes a new emoji picker on all platforms. The picker is located at the left of the composer and is similar to the built-in emoji picker on iOS.

The latest version of Facebook Messenger is available now on the App Store. Download it to access the over 1,500 new, more diverse emoji.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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