Gboard on Android will now let you easily set your own default skin tone and gender،
Gboard on Android is now rolling out the ability to set a default skin tone for your favorite emoji. We were able to change the skin tone of emoji in the past, but this change now applies to all supported emoji at once.
As
announced by Google, the ability to choose a default skin tone and gender is now available on Gboard on Android. This can be set by long-pressing one of the many emoji that support skin tone customization, which you can discern by noting the little arrow at the bottom right of each emoji, then selecting the desired skin tone.
This has always been the process in the past, however, now when you change an emoji, all emoji in that same category change with it. For example, by editing the “Flexed Biceps” emoji, all emoji containing a hand or fingers are changed. The same goes for emoji in the “People” category, where you can not only change skin tone, but also gender.
In the past, this would only change a single emoji and only for that one use, whereas today it persists in the app until you change it again. It’s really shocking that this hasn’t been a feature until now. Emojis have become part of everyday communication, even in most professional environments.
Imagine how difficult typing would be if you had to long press each letter to change it to uppercase, then start again to get a lowercase letter. It would be painful, slow and frustrating. And yet, when we want to change the color appearance or gender presentation of our emoji, that’s exactly what we have to go through. – Google
Google said that in most emoji keyboards, it would take more than 300 taps to set the tone and gender of each emoji. Multiply that by the number of times you would need to do this for each texting or chat app you use. That’s a lot of pressure considering emoji are such a casual way to express yourself. Hopefully, this feature will save a ton of time for those who like to use emoji in their texts.
