Apple Reveals Gender-Neutral Emojis plus Hundreds More

When words are not enough, let emojis do the talking—and Apple is adding hundreds more to choose from.

Apple has released a preview of the dozens of the new emojis that are coming to iPhone and iPad with the latest iOS 11 update, including the first gender-neutral characters. The androgynous emojis were confirmed last spring after many expressed their wishes for a non-binary character, and today Apple unveiled the designs.

The new icons include mythical creatures, emotive smiley faces and sign language, along with new additions to food, activities, animals and clothes. Some of these emojis were teased at World Emoji Day on July 17, including a breastfeeding woman, a bearded man, a woman wearing a hijab and a zombie.

The updated set of emojis were adapted from approved characters in Unicode 10 which means Android users will see the detailed designs on their devices too.

While Apple said the release will include redesigns of current emojis and new variations, here are some of the new and reimagined ideograms users can expect:

Mythical creatures: mermaid, marlin, fairy, genie, vampire, zombie, elf

Emotive faces: shhh face, face with monocle, swearing face

Animals: dinosaur, hedgehog, dinosaur, giraffe, zebra, cricket

Food: broccoli, steamed dumpling, Chinese takeout box, steaming pie, coconut, sandwich

Activities: person rock climbing, curling rock, red wooden sleigh, person in lotus position

Clothes: trench coat, red scarf, blue ball hat, green knitted gloves

People: gender-neutral child, adult and elderly person, woman breastfeeding, woman in hijab, bearded man

The emoji update is available for beta testers on October 9 and will be available in upcoming software updates for iOS, macOS and watchOS.