Android emoji will actually look human this year

For all of Android’s imperfections, one has stood out high above the others over the years: its truly terrible blob-like emoji, which remain completely indecipherable and cause great confusion when traveling between platforms. But this year, Google is finally going to fix it.

As part of Android N, Google will roll out a new set of emoji to represent humans. They look totally normal and even kind of nice, using pleasant colors and human-like shapes. Most importantly, they conform to what these emoji are supposed to look like, so you’ll theoretically be able to understand the images you’re sending and receiving.

Google previewed a handful of them in a blog post today announcing the change.

Here you can see Google’s error while designing its old police officer emoji. Instead of using a human, its old design placed the cap on an alien slug:

Here you can see how Google has improved the dancer emoji. The new one signifies a human dancing, whereas the old one is something you might send to make someone so uncomfortable they never speak to you again:

Alongside the introduction of these new designs, Google is also adding the ability to select the skin tone of human emoji. It’s been a feature that’s been in high demand; Apple first added it to iOS this time last year.

Anyone who’s using Google’s developer preview of Android N can try out the new emoji today after updating to its latest version. Everyone else will likely have to wait until Android N enters a final, public release, which will likely happen sometime around October, if Google sticks to its regular release schedule.