Gender neutral children are added to Apple's divisive new emoji range

New gender neutral family emojis added to an Apple update has divided iPhone users with some claiming 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 has brought major changes to iMessage security measures, upgrades for 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 'push the transgender ideology'.

But Cleo Madeleine, from Gendered Intelligence, has claimed it is 'good to have better representation of gender minorities' because it helps those people communicate.

Apple has introduced 118 new emojis in their iOS 17.4 update, which includes gender neutral families

Among the gender neutral family emojis, centre, Apple introduced a lime, phoenix, brown mushroom, broken metal chain and two shaking heads

Speaking to Mail Online, the Party of Women leader said: 'I think Apple are part of the technocratic authoritarian push of transgender ideology. To what end who knows.

'There is a concerted attack on the family and I believe that is ultimately to have access to our children. If you break the family mothers lose support. 

'I do really think there is a push for companies and the state to have that access.'

Arguing that these emojis are a good move forward from Apple, Madeleine said: 'Emojis are used to communicate small bits of information quickly, often helping us cross language barriers or convey emotion 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 just 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 towards bringing the world closer together.'

Kellie-Jay Keen , leader of the Party of Women, believes Apple are trying to gain access into 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 a child, one parent and two children, one parent and one child, and two parents and two children. 

Elsewhere in the update, there's also more than 100 people facing sideways in a range of skin colours and genders, including some holding canes and others in wheelchairs.

In addition to the new emojis, there are several changes coming in response to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) - a new law aimed at removing the unfair advantages of 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 these.

Most notably Epic, maker of the hit game Fortnite, is set to launch its own Epic Store this year which will allow 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 to 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 which is designed to protect users against so-called 'Harvest Now, Decrypt Later' attacks.

In these attacks, criminals harvest user data in the hopes that they will one day be able to crack the code when they have access to quantum computing.