Google Rolls Out Android P Developer Preview 3, Features Include Gender-Inclusive Emoji Search

Google released Android P Developer Preview 3 earlier this week, and one of the most interesting features will affect the way users search for emojis.

Reports on Wednesday noted that Google has already added the factory images and files that can be downloaded over-the-air to install the third developer beta for Android P. All these can be found on the official Android Developer website and are ready to be used on compatible devices enrolled in the Android Beta Program.

The third Android P Preview carries a set of newly designed emojis. While the changes in Android emojis might have been expected given how society has had discussions on gender inclusivity in various industries, there is a specific coding approach applied in the latest Android P version that changes the way people will search for emojis on an Android phone.

Emojipedia specifically explained in a blog post that Google tweaked this feature to adhere to the Unicode Standard. It is important to note that gender-neutral emojis have already been added to the Unicode Standard and to the set of Android emojis on earlier Android updates. However, what Google changed is the way people will search for emojis.

In earlier versions of Android, if a user searches for a “family” emoji, he or she is automatically suggested to use the emoji with a man, a woman and a boy. It turns out that this is an inaccurate result based on Unicode Standard rules.

With the latest Android P preview, Google is merely following the specific rule that if a search keyword does not specify the gender of an emoji, the gender-neutral image should be the first result to pop up. So, with Android P, when users simply search for a “family” emoji, they will be getting the icon with two men and a male child. For other searches, users will have to be more specific with the keywords they type, such as “family: man, woman boy.”

The same policy will apply when searching for “couple” emojis.

Meanwhile, the latest Android P build also carries 157 newly designed emojis. The dagger emoji now looks like it belongs to an episode of “Adventure Time” while the Green Salad emoji is now vegan-friendly as Google has removed the egg from the image.

Some of the details in these new emojis are worth noticing. For example, the violin emoji now has a chin rest just like in real life.

The full version of Android P is expected to be released later this year.