Google announces updated and more inclusive emoji picker in Gmail

Google has been testing a lot of new features for Gmail lately. A few days ago, a blog post by @AssembleDebug revealed that Google is reportedly adding the option to react to emails using emojis directly within the Gmail platform. New emoji responses would appear next to the traditional reply button. Expanding on its emojis, Google has announced the launch of an updated and more inclusive emoji picker in Gmail. Here, you will find everything you need to know about it.

Gmail's new emoji picker

In a blog post, Google said, "Starting today, you can access a complete emoji selection and set emoji skin tone and gender preferences with the modernized emoji picker in the web version of Gmail."

The emoji selection will now have 9 categories instead of 5. It will also bring a new "Recently Used" tab where users can choose from recently used emojis instead of searching for them again. With this updated emoji picker, Gmail users can also set emoji skin tone and gender preferences. To do this, click on the small arrow at the bottom of the emoji, and different emoji preferences will appear. Selecting a preference will apply to all relevant emojis. This feature has no administrator control, and end users cannot deactivate it.

Google announced that individual emoji selections will be saved until the user updates the settings. These updated features are rolling out starting today and will be available over the next few weeks for all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.

Details about emoji reactions in Gmail

In this new setup, an emoji reaction button appears in emails next to the traditional reply button. Initially, it provides you with popular emojis such as hearts, party hats, thumbs up, laughter, praying hands, and smiling faces. However, a convenient "+" button at the end lets you choose from a wide range of emojis to react to the email. Once you've selected your emoji, it will be at the bottom of the email.

While there is no official timeline for the release of this feature, it is already functional behind the scenes within the Android app. This could mean it could arrive sooner rather than later.