New gender-neutral family emojis added to an Apple update have divided iPhone users: some claim it’s an “attack on family,” while others say it “is a small but effective step” in the right direction .
The iOS 17.4 update brought major changes to iMessage security measures, updates to the Podcast app, and 118 new emojis.
Among the changes in the app are a lime, a phoenix, a brown mushroom, a broken metal chain, two shaking heads, and four gender neural families, which take the form of silhouettes.
Kellie-Jay Keen, leader of the Women’s Party, has claimed that this is an attempt by Apple to “push transgender ideology.”
But Cleo Madeleine, from Gender intelligencehas stated that it is “good to have better representation of gender minorities” because it helps those people communicate.
Apple has introduced 118 new emojis in its iOS 17.4 update, including gender-neutral families
Among the familiar gender-neutral emojis, in the center, Apple introduced a lime, a phoenix, a brown mushroom, a broken metal chain, and two shaking heads.
Speaking to Mail Online, the Women’s Party leader said: ‘I think Apple is part of the technocratic authoritarian drive of transgender ideology. To what end who knows?
‘There is a concerted attack on the family and I think ultimately it is to have access to our children. If the family breaks up, mothers lose support.
“I really think there is a push for companies and the state to have that access.”
Arguing that these emojis are a good step forward from Apple, Madeleine said: ‘Emojis are used to communicate small bits of information quickly, often helping us cross language barriers or convey emotions through text.
“It’s good to have better representation of gender minorities, like non-binary people, in emoji, because it helps those people communicate.
‘The disproportionate criticism of this change only shows that a small minority of people want to exclude non-binary people from their definition of family.
‘We know that there are families of all shapes and sizes. “For us and our families, this is a small but effective step in bringing the world closer.”
Kellie-Jay Keen, leader of the Women’s Party, believes Apple is trying to access people’s families.
Cleo Madeleine of Gendered Intelligence said it was a “small but effective step to bring the world closer together.”
Apple’s Gender Neural Family emojis are white on a light blue background and consist of two fathers and one son, one father and two sons, one father and one son, and two fathers and two sons.
Elsewhere in the update, there are also more than 100 people watching sideways in a variety of skin colors and genders, including some with canes and others in wheelchairs.
In addition to the new emojis, several changes are coming in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new law aimed at eliminating unfair advantages of tech giants.
Under this law, Apple must allow developers to create and launch their own app stores for iPhone devices and offer apps through them.
In particular, Epic, creator of the hit game Fortnite, will launch its own Epic Store this year, allowing European users to download games to their phones.
The update will also allow apps to use the iPhone’s contactless payment system for services other than Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
These big changes will only be available in the EU, so UK users won’t see any changes in the App Store.
All users around the world will receive a major security update for iMessage.
iOS 17.4 introduces a new encryption system called PQ3 that is designed to protect users against attacks called ‘Harvest now, decrypt later’.
In these attacks, criminals collect data from users in the hope that they will one day be able to crack the code when they have access to quantum computing.