Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The standalone Regional Indicator Symbols (🇦–🇿, U+1F1E6–U+1F1FF — the single boxed letters) are not reachable anywhere in HeliBoard: not in the emoji Flags category (which only contains the composed country flags), and not via any symbols layout or popup. OpenBoard / AOSP LatinIME used to include them.
For context, the reason they're missing: the emoji palette is generated from Unicode's emoji-test.txt by tools/make-emoji-keys, and the standalone regional indicators are not listed there as emoji (only the composed country-flag pairs are), so they never enter the palette. MakeEmojiKeys additionally filters out the whole COMPONENT group. Unlike keyboard layouts, the emoji palette isn't user-customizable, so there is currently no way for a user to add them back themselves.
Describe the solution you'd like
Make the 26 standalone regional indicators available on the emoji keyboard — e.g. appended to the Flags category, since they're visually and semantically flag-related. As they aren't in emoji-test.txt, they'd be added as a small static supplement rather than through the generator, with the usual minApi handling for rendering support.
Use case
- Using the boxed letters as a compact, prominent way to render individual letters (initials, short tags, emphasis) — my primary use.
- Composing flags that aren't in the predefined list from their two letters.
- Writing region / ISO / airline codes in that stylized boxed-letter form.
Describe alternatives you've considered (if any)
- Custom layout — doesn't help here, the emoji palette isn't user-editable.
- Copy-pasting them from an external source each time — cumbersome.
App version
4.0-beta2 (also applies to current main; the standalone indicators dropped out when the generated emoji palette was introduced in #1515).
I'm happy to implement this and open a PR (append U+1F1E6–U+1F1FF to the Flags category with the corresponding minApi entries) if it's something you'd accept.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The standalone Regional Indicator Symbols (🇦–🇿, U+1F1E6–U+1F1FF — the single boxed letters) are not reachable anywhere in HeliBoard: not in the emoji Flags category (which only contains the composed country flags), and not via any symbols layout or popup. OpenBoard / AOSP LatinIME used to include them.
For context, the reason they're missing: the emoji palette is generated from Unicode's
emoji-test.txtbytools/make-emoji-keys, and the standalone regional indicators are not listed there as emoji (only the composed country-flag pairs are), so they never enter the palette.MakeEmojiKeysadditionally filters out the wholeCOMPONENTgroup. Unlike keyboard layouts, the emoji palette isn't user-customizable, so there is currently no way for a user to add them back themselves.Describe the solution you'd like
Make the 26 standalone regional indicators available on the emoji keyboard — e.g. appended to the Flags category, since they're visually and semantically flag-related. As they aren't in
emoji-test.txt, they'd be added as a small static supplement rather than through the generator, with the usualminApihandling for rendering support.Use case
Describe alternatives you've considered (if any)
App version
4.0-beta2 (also applies to current
main; the standalone indicators dropped out when the generated emoji palette was introduced in #1515).I'm happy to implement this and open a PR (append
U+1F1E6–U+1F1FFto the Flags category with the correspondingminApientries) if it's something you'd accept.