High five: these new emojis could come to your smartphone very soon

( Business) — If you’ve ever wanted to high-five someone in your group text messages, you may soon be able to. A new “push hand” gesture that appears to give a high five is on the list of possible new emojis to be released later this year. Also included: a shaky face, ginger and a comb for textured locks.

Emojipedia, a popular emoji reference site, released sample images Wednesday of more than a dozen new emoticons that have been submitted for approval to the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit organization that oversees global emoji standards and new releases.

The preliminary list also includes maracas, a long-awaited pink heart, and a Khanda, a traditional symbol of the Sikh faith. The potential additions come as pressure has mounted in recent years to make emojis more inclusive.

“While some may not make the cut, most of those submitted for approval are historically confirmed,” said Keith Broni, editor-in-chief of Emojipediain a blog post accompanying the new images, which were released ahead of World Emoji Day, which is this Sunday.

Final approval by Unicode is scheduled for September. The emoji would then be released as software updates for major platforms from late 2022 through 2023.

Broni emphasized that the images released by Emojipedia are previews and subject to change or final approval, but said that every emoji the group previously saw last year, such as the pregnant man, ended up being included in the final release.

The new options come as emoji usage on Twitter is at record levels, according to an analysis published by Emojipedia. Their data indicated that emoji usage this month and last month were at “the highest instances of emojis per tweet since our records began in July 2011.”