In a development that, I'm sure, has absolutely nothing to do with everything going on in the world today , Apple has subtly modified its "Medical Mask Face" emoji with friendlier eyes, hair, and pink cheeks. It looked a bit lethargic before. Now, is it almost happy? You could almost see a grin beneath.
And that you don't have to picture that. Wait a minute for it:
As Emojipedia points out, the new emoji is basically Apple 's original "Smiling Smile" with a mask on top of it. If you think the designer was considering a frown underneath? It's definitely not.
It's also the new way the emoji has grown to convey the anguish of 2020—even as other emojis are being postponed until 2021. It's also the new example that Korea seems to leap to the United States when it comes to masks, seeing as Samsung beat Apple to the notion of a happy mask back in March:
Face with Medical Mask dates back to the original Japanese emoji sets, and was added to Unicode in 2010 https://t.co/Jz1OkuoAC9 https://t.co/zjMj1dgIst pic.twitter.com/fXe9vn1mCD
— Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) March 16, 2020
The complete piece of Emojipedia is a neat look at how an icon like this will grow. IOS 14.2 will be due out later this year.
It's also also a good idea to remind you that sending your own emoji is surprisingly simple. Here's how my colleague made the yawning face and waffle emoji that you're using today. Severe!
