Scotland flag emoji '˜could be introduced this year'

Could there finally be a Scottish flag emoji next year? Picture: Malcolm McCurrach

Scotland could finally have its own emoji this year, with plans announced for the introduction of a Saltire emoji along with the flags of Wales and England.

The Union Jack is already available as an emoji but the authority on computer text and characters has called for the flags of the three countries to be included this year.

However, the final decision lies with manufacturers to add the new emojis to their keyboards.

The proposal for the new emoji flags was spearheaded by Emojipedia’s Jeremy Burge and the head of social media at BBC Wales Owen Williams.

How the new emoji flags might look. Picture: emojipedia

Northern Ireland’s flag was omitted from the proposal as it does not have official status but it has been included in an unconnected proposal sent to Unicode relating to ‘regional indicator’ emojis.

Unicode recently recommended the addition of US state flags and other territories currently unavailable.

There are already emoji flags for Ascension Island and the atoll of Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean among others.

Emojipedia has found that the Scotland flag is the most frequently requested ‘regional flag’, ahead of Wales, England and the state flag of Texas.