A NEW Saltire emoji has been released for Twitter users.

It joins new flags for Wales and England that have been created following a campaign by Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia and Owen Williams from BBC Wales.

Unicode, the authority on computer text and characters, agreed to add the three flags to the next release of emojis.

However, they will not be available widely on tablets and phones until technology companies like Apple and Google update their software.

In the meantime, the Saltire emoji can be copied from the Emojipedia website for use in patriotic tweets.

Burge said anyone who uses Twitter via the website will be able to access the new emojis right away, and more platforms are expected to support them by the end of the year.

Other emoji flags already available include those for Ascension Island, St Barthelemy, Curacao, Diego Garcia and Djibouti.