Emoticons have practically become a parallel language that we carry with our phones. Some drawings that allow us to compress with a single image everything we want to express with several words: “I’m happy”, “I’m sad”, “I feel like dancing”, etc. So they have become an essential part of any mobile phone, tablet and even computer keyboard.
Now, until now, in the case of Android devices, these emoticons are closely linked to updates to the operating system itself, so all the news and corrections that we periodically enjoy need an update that affects the entire smartphone. . So is that the best way to add new features to the emoji cast?
Google is going to change the way we update them
From Mountain View they have analyzed the situation and, according to the XDA Developers colleagues, they have decided to change the way in which emoticons get to our device, removing them from any future update of the operating system. What directly affects the new Google OS that will arrive at the end of next year: Android 12.
It must be said that the emoticons are stored in the operating system as a single typeface rather than writing an “A”, for example, we do it with a smiley face. Hence, they have always come through the new Android updates . This partition where the fonts are stored is currently read-only, so it is not possible to access it on demand, but only within the processes in which we have to install an OS update file.
The fact is that from the developer forum they have detected a subtle change in the AOSP version of Android that detaches these font files (.ttf) from the obligation to update the operating system to add new features, which would allow downloading new packs of emoticons directly from the Play Store.
We will see anyway if those breadcrumbs left in the code of the stock version of Android are confirmed, and for next year’s version Google ends with that update of the emoticons via update of the operating system. Thus, the family of emojis will be able to grow thanks to the work, not only of Google and other manufacturers, but also of those third parties who dare to design their own packs.