Apple releases iOS 8.3 with 300 new emoji

Apple has released new software update iOS 8.3, complete with more than 300 new emoji characters and redesigned keyboard.

The update now means emoji such as face, hands and bodies characters come in a variety of six skin tones for the first time. Tapping your desired emoji and holding down will present the skin tone options.

Apple first unveiled the new emoji, created in partnership with the Unicode Consortium, back in February. The skin tones are understood to have been modelled on the Fitzpatrick scale, a recognised standard used by dermatologists.

"People all over the world want to have emoji that reflect more human diversity, especially for skin tone," Unicode said last November. "The Unicode emoji characters for people and body parts are meant to be generic, yet following the precedents set by the original Japanese carrier images, they are often shown with a light skin tone instead of a more generic (inhuman) appearance, such as a yellow/orange colour or a silhouette."

Developed for use in Japanese SMS messages, emoji have become enormously popular for peppering texts, tweets and other messages with colourful icons, which depict wide range of emotions, food and animals.

An additional 32 new country flag emoji characters have also been added to the emoji repertoire.

^{How to select the new emoji skin tones: press and hold}

The new update also enables iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5s and 5c owners to use EE's WiFi Calling feature, announced earlier this week.

Once activated, the feature uses a WiFi connection to push voice calls and texts to a customer's phone to sidestep weak or no mobile reception in the home, workplace or even on the Underground.

Apple said iOS 8.3 also contains improved performance for app launch and responsoiiveness, fixes issues with WiFi and Bluetooth and orientation and rotation. A full list of fixes can be viewed here.

Additional language and country support for Siri in English (India, New Zealand), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian (Russia), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey) is another new feature, alongside additional dictation languages in Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and Hebrew (Israel).