iOS emoji update removes suggestive 'peach' picture from iPhones and introduces a shrug character

The peach was never much used for indicating an actual peach – something that Apple appears committed to stopping

Peachy: Are butt masks here to stay? (filonmar/iStock)

Apple is about to drop a new version of iOS, which will bring with it a range of decidedly un-sexy emoji.

The update makes a huge number of changes to the little characters, changing existing drawings as well as introducing some entirely new ones. And one of those changes appears to be the most controversial, perhaps cutting off an entire new form of communication.

The peach emoji has become iconic as a shorthand way of referring to the bottom, because of its likeness to one. But Apple is redesigning that emoji, making it look far more like an actual peach and so apparently stopping it from being used in its more remarkable way.

To make up for that, the company is introducing a whole range of other, new characters. Those include a shrugging man – perhaps as a way of not forcing people to use the shrugging emoticon (written as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

Emojipedia says that sign is used to “indicate a lack of knowledge about a particular topic, or a lack of care about the result of a situation”. It also says the icon isn’t likely to come to a range of other platforms.

In addition, a facepalm is headed to the iPhone. That looks exactly as you might expect – someone slapping their hand on their face as a way of expressing frustration.

While the peach update is likely to bring with it a huge change in how people speak, the update is far from the most controversial one that Apple has released in recent months. The last major update saw the company swap the gun emoji for a water pistol – in a move that was apparently intended to stop the glamorisation of firearms, but caused an uproar.