iOS update brings horrifying new emoji, as well as correcting gender balance of cartoon characters

A bizarre, distended orange lying face has been added to the keyboard

(Disney)

Apple has launched its newest iOS update, bringing with it a huge range of new emoji – some of which are a little odd.

The new update, numbered iOS 10.2, is now available for everyone with an iPhone or iPad to download. It has a corresponding update to macOS Sierra, which also enables the new emoji.

Many of the changes have been long-trailed and heralded as important additions to the emoji keyboards. Those include things like new professions, with teachers, astronauts and scientists, as well as gender options meant to address the apparent sexism coded into some of the previous choices.

And it also brings a huge range of more specific options. Those include changes to the faces to make them more detailed and add characters like a pregnant woman and a green face to depict sickness.

Some emoji stay the same after the update, despite suggestions they would change. The peach, for instance, has long been said to look like a person’s behind and has been used that way in texts – Apple threatened to change that to make it more realistic, but appears to have relented.

But perhaps the most notable and topical is a bizarre-looking orange lying face that has been added to the keyboard. That character, which satisfies the need for an emoji depicting a liar, appears to be based on Pinocchio and has a long nose coming out of it.

The emoji update comes with iOS 10.2, which is available now. The easiest way to download it is to head to the Settings app, click General and choose Software update.

According to Apple’s official release notes, “Emoji have been beautifully redesigned to reveal even more detail, and over 100 new emoji have been added including new faces, food, animals, sports and professions”.

As well as the new emoji, 10.2 brings with it a new TV app that’s intended to make it easier to watch videos through a range of different services.