The emojis, which are part of a custom app rather than unicode, are being developed by young people on Arrernte country

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

After years of asking for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag to be included in the emoji library, over a dozen new Indigenous-themed emojis are coming to Android and iOS via an new app.

Ingeous studios, which is behind the project, posted a teaser of what the new emojis will look like on Facebook on Thursday.

“Soon you will be pushing out Australia’s first set of Indigenous emojis, made by young people on Arrernte country in Mparntwe/Alice Springs,” the post stated.

Included in the emojis are a boomerang, the Aboriginal flag, and the flag on a number of other items including a heart, a hand and a crown.

The new emojis were designed by young Aboriginal people in central Australia as part of workshop programs that ran in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek between December last year and April this year.

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The emojis will be part of a new app and will be custom stickers people can use from the app and then paste into messages or comments, rather than as part of the official emoji set on keyboards.

The 19 new emojis will land on Android first in the next two weeks and then iOS after that. The organisation is also developing a keyboard for the Arrernte language, something aimed at keeping the language alive.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Indigemoji’ designed by young Aboriginal people. Photograph: Ingeous studios

Emojis can only be added to the official set by Unicode, and there is a lengthy approval process, requiring each emoji to be individually approved. According to Unicode’s current list of applications, the Aboriginal flag has already been rejected.

Ingeous studios has the permission of Luritja artist Harold Thomas, the owner of the copyright for the Aboriginal flag, to use his design in the emojis.

In June, WAM Clothing, which has worldwide exclusive rights to use the flag on clothing, sent cease and desist letters to several companies, including the AFL, for use of Thomas’s design on clothing.