The female cyclist emoji is finally here

The emoji that has been sorely missed by cyclists has finally come to your Apple device. If you updated your iPhone or iPad this week you are in for a nice surprise when you next open the emoji keyboard to plan your next ride. The emoji keyboard is so vast you can have entire conversations with the tiny picture icons after all. The update has an emphasis on gender equality, thus women who ride will find themselves better represented by tiny ponytailed bike riders in both road and mountain bike versions. The emoji is available in five different skin and hair colour combinations.

The new emojis which were made available with Apple’s iOS 10 update which was released on Sept. 13, come thanks to the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee of the Unicode Consortium who regulate the image-based communication. Women runners, weightlifters, basketball players, surfers, rowers and golfers will also be pleased to find themselves represented in miniature digital form.

Those looking to download the new operating system will need to go into their “settings” on their Apple device and click on the “general” category. Under the “software update” option, eligible devices give users the option to download the latest version of Apple’s operating system.

In total, 70 new emojis were released this week and cyclists reaching for their phones to plan weekend rides will surely put them to good use. People who submit new emojis to the Consortium need to prove their compatibility and expected usage levels before they can be considered for approval. In 2010 the original male bicyclist emoji was approved.

So next time you reach for your phone before going out or after returning from a ride and you want to share this with the world, female riders now have a more accurate emoji to accompany your picture and words, or lack thereof.