【Watch Midhunter】

Redhead emoji just moved one step closer to reality.

Emoji with red hair are Watch Midhunteron the agenda for the next meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee, the organization that sets standards for the emoji you see on the smartphones and social networks millions use every day. Finally, gingers may get representation in the emoji universe.

Apple is hosting the meeting, which begins Jan. 23, at its campus in Cupertino, California, reports Emojipedia. Jeremy Burge, who works for the site and gives technical advice to Unicode, clarified the approach for including redhead emoji in emoji keyboards in a detailed proposal. Turns out it's not as straightforward as you might think.

SEE ALSO: Interracial couples are finally getting some emoji representation

"I think the biggest reason we haven’t seen the redhead emoji gain much traction is that it’s a big ask to add a redheaded version of every single emoji. On the other hand, would it be enough to just had a man and woman with red hair?" Burge explained to Mashable.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

In 2015, Apple finally introduced racially diverse emoji that allowed users to change the skin tone of any person emoji from the default yellow to one of five color options. More recently, the Unicode Consortium approved a person wearing a hijab emoji as well as a genderless person.

Ginger Parrot, a website for redheads and their supporters launched a petition titled "Redheads should have emoji, too!" two years ago. The petition currently has more than 20,000 supporters. "If you say your’e going to diversify, why not add a few red-haired emoji in the mix? Natural redheads may be rare at less than 2% of the world’s population but that is 138,000,000 iPhones waiting to happen." the petition says.

Even celebrities like Jesse Tyler Ferguson have weighed in.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

There are a few different options for how a redhead emoji could be implemented. One option is adding a new “person with red hair” emoji, like the "person with blonde hair" emoji.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Another option is adding hair “tags” that can apply to any emoji, the way skin tone is currently implemented.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The proposal's goal is to narrow down the option for how the redhead emoji would be implemented. The deadline for 2017 emoji proposals passed months ago, so if Unicode decides to go ahead with a redhead emoji, the soonest we could see it is 2018. Until that happens, there are currently a few third party apps and keyboards that have a collection of redhead emoji to satisfy your ginger fix.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This cute robot will teach your 3-year-old to code

---

• Digital Culture
• Games
• Entertainment
• Tech
• Social Good
• Deals
• Shopping
• Life

• Nvidia DLSS: An Early Investigation
• The best T
• Bollywood rom
• Chrissy Teigen and Jan Levinson bonded over 'The Office' on Twitter
• Best Amazon Fire TV Cube deal: Save $30 at Amazon
• California's Woolsey Fire has left a burn scar so big you can see it from space
• 67% of workers in the gig economy wouldn't join it again
• I love Dave Matthews Band but I have a hard time showing it
• Best JBL deal: Save $80 on JBL Xtreme 4 portable speaker
• The best T

• The Beach Towel: Now for Sale! by The Paris Review
• Writing Jobs; Literary Style Icons by Sadie Stein
• Scene and Heard by Alexandra Pechman
• Staff Picks: Microstyle, The Epiplectic Bicycle by The Paris Review
• 'DOC' at Anthology Film Archives by Deirdre Foley
• Constructive Abandonment by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber
• Staff Picks: Food, Fiction, and Summer Dresses by The Paris Review
• Age Gaps; Authorial Décor by Sadie Stein
• Audible sitewide sale: save up to 85% on all titles
• Staff Picks: Archaeologies of the Future, the Last Live Nude Girls by The Paris Review

• Best Amazon deal: Get a $5 Amazon credit when you spend $30 on home essentials
• Mark Zuckerberg believes Facebook is at 'war,' says report
• Everything coming to Netflix in December 2018
• 'The Crimes of Grindelwald' box office a record low for Harry Potter
• How to Reboot and Reset Android Devices
• New 'Monopoly: Game of Thrones' game plays the show's theme song
• YouTube now offers free, ad
• Two bats had sex on the field during an NFL game
• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 2: Tips to solve 'Connections' #691.
• Meet the the pillars of the white nationalist alt

• Anker raises Amazon prices amid US tariffs
• Tech gifts that are only for rich people
• Mark Zuckerberg believes Facebook is at 'war,' says report
• Ariana Grande is teasing a new project featuring all of your favourite '00s rom
• The State of 5G: When It's Coming, How Fast It Will Be & The Sci
• This site lets you make your own classified monster
• The terrible reason #McChicken is trending on Twitter
• A definitive list of all the actual crimes in 'Crimes of Grindelwald' and their severity
• Best JBL deal: Save $80 on JBL Xtreme 4 portable speaker
• NASA's 2020 rover will land in Jezero Crater, a dried ancient lakebed