New gender-neutral family emojis added in an Apple update have divided iPhone users; some claim it is an “attack on the 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, upgrades to the Podcast app, and 118 new emojis.
Among the app changes are a lime, phoenix, brown mushroom, broken metal chain, two shaking heads and four gender neural families, which take the form of silhouettes.
Kellie-Jay Keen, leader of the Party of Women, has claimed it is an attempt by Apple to ‘promote transgender ideology’.
But Cleo Madeleine, from Gendered intelligencehas claimed that it is ‘good to have better representation of gender minorities’ because it helps these people communicate.
Apple introduced 118 new emojis in their iOS 17.4 update, including gender-neutral families
Among the gender-neutral family emojis, 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 impulse of transgender ideology. For what purpose, who knows.
“There is a concerted attack on the family and I believe this is ultimately to gain access to our children. If you break the family, mothers lose their support.
“I really think there is a push for companies and the state to get that access.”
Madeleine argues that these emojis are a good step forward from Apple, saying: ‘Emojis are used to convey small pieces of information quickly, often allowing us to bridge language barriers or convey emotions through text.
“It’s good to have better representation of gender minorities, such as 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 families come in all shapes and sizes. For us and our families, this is a small but effective step to bring the world closer together.’
Women’s Party leader Kellie-Jay Keen believes Apple is trying to gain access to people’s families
Cleo Madeleine, from Gendered Intelligence, has said it is a ‘small but effective step towards bringing the world closer together’
Apple’s gender-neural family emojis are white on a light blue background and consist of two parents and one child, one parent and two children, one parent and one child, and two parents and two children.
Elsewhere in the update, there are also more than 100 side-facing people of varying skin colors and genders, including some with walking sticks 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 removing unfair advantages from tech giants.
Under this law, Apple is required to allow developers to create and launch their own app stores for iPhone devices and offer apps through them.
Notably, Epic, maker of the popular game Fortnite, will launch its own Epic Store this year, allowing European users to download games to their phones.
The update also allows 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 are receiving a major security update for iMessage.
iOS 17.4 introduces a new encryption system called PQ3 that is designed to protect users from so-called ‘Harvest Now, Decrypt Later’ attacks.
In these attacks, criminals collect user data in the hope that they will one day be able to crack the code if they have access to quantum computing.