A “pregnant man” emoji and “pregnant person” emoji are coming to Apple iPhones with its latest update, iOS 15.4 sparking controversy. The pregnant emoji aren’t new for some, since they arrived as part of an update that emoji-encyclopedia Emojipedia announced in September 2021.
However, Apple’s version of the emoji was released Thursday as part of iOS 15.4 beta — a voluntary system update iPhone users can choose to install. The update will come to all iPhone users later this year.
Both new pregnant emoji also come in five different skin tones. When selecting an emoji, users can hold their finger on the icon until it shows different skin tone options. Emoji first came to Apple in 2016, when the pregnant woman emoji was released.
Emoji creators have “made an effort to be inclusive with gender, especially in recent years. The approach has varied depending on the situation, though the general goal is to standardize inconsistencies in legacy decisions,”
Jane Solomon, Emojipedia’s senior emoji lexicographer, said in a September blog post when announcing the new emojis that they “may be used for representation by trans men, non-binary people, or women with short hair—though, of course, use of these emojis is not limited to these groups.” Solomon wrote that the new emojis could also be utilized as a “tongue-in-cheek way to display a food baby, a very full stomach caused by eating a large meal.”