Emoji

Star Trek fans now have another reason to upgrade their iOS devices to 8.3. Apple supports the Vulcan salute emoji, which means the popular symbol can be typed and viewed in iOS apps and on OS X computers. A large collection of new emoji was released with iOS 8.3, however the Vulcan salute remains an Easter egg.

The Vulcan salute was developed by Leonard Nimoy during his portrayal of Spock on the original Star Trek series. As any Trekkie knows, the gesture is often accompanied by the words "Live long and prosper". The trick to enabling the Vulcan salute requires following the steps below:

Not too long ago, iPhone owners outside of Japan needed an app to unlock emoji characters, otherwise known as emoticons with their own special keyboard. Now that iOS 6 has launched the feature is no longer restricted to a particular country.

This means that many apps that existed to provide access to emoji are no longer needed. Turning on emoji is simple, requiring only a few easy steps. Apps like Emoji Free! have over 40 million users who have used the trick to unlock emoji ahead of the iOS 6 release.