Apple announces launch of gender neutral emojis

After sneaking a peak at the new emojis that will be available on the iOS 11.1 on World Emoji Day back in July, Apple has revealed hundreds of new characters, including emojis that are gender neutral and available in a number of skin tones.

To visualise human expressions, Apple has created a series of suggestive yellow face emojis with more expression, including an angry swearing character and one asking for quiet. These are released alongside more representative emojis including a breastfeeding emoji and a woman wearing a headscarf, as well as gender neutral emojis each of different ages sporting the same hair length. “The new emoji make it easier for users to express themselves with greater diversity, additional animals and creates, new smiley faces and more,” says Apple.

As the seasons change, Apple has adapted its emoji set to include gloves, a trench coat, a baseball cap and scarf. The company has also expanded its animal section to feature a giraffe, a hedgehog, an insect and a dinosaur too, as well as its edible options to include a pie, a sandwich, broccoli, Asian take-out and a dumpling. In terms of visualising activities, Apple will now feature a sleigh, a rock climbing emoji and a curling stone.

Additional emojis include a new orange heart creating a full rainbow in heart emojis, and a more mythical section has also been added, including a fairy, a vampire and a mermaid. The new set also includes the American sign language symbol for “I love you”, which has previously been campaigned for.

iOS 11.1 is reported to launch from next week (16/1017).