Apple added a search bar for emojis and suggested emojis as you type in iMessage with iOS 14 update in 2020, but today, that’s not the focus, though it’s somewhat connected.
About a week ago, some people on Reddit said that Apple suggests the Palestine flag when you type “Jerusalem” in iMessage or search for emojis. Jerusalem is a city both Israel and Palestine claim as their capital, but according to Google, it’s Israel’s capital. As expected, this sparked controversy because of the ongoing dispute.
However, the newly rolled out Apple iOS 17.5 beta 2 has fixed this and now when you type Jerusalem after updating your device, it won’t suggest either Israel or Palestine’s flag.
It comes after several users fired on social media with complaints alleging Apple choosing one side of the conflict. Thus after rolling out this update to the developer, Apple is maintaining its neutral stance, and not picking up sides. Similarly, Apple acknowledged that it’s a bug and promised to fix it in the coming updates.
More importantly, one should take note that these emoji suggestions change depending upon what language you use, i.e. British English, American English, or even Indian English, and about this Jerusalem emoji suggestion, according to users, it affected only those using British English.
Consequently, Apple has fixed the issue with the new update, which is rolling out to developers and beta testers. Another reason Apple could suggest the Palestine flag when one would type Jerusalem could likely be due to user behaviour as Apple may have learnt this from an exchange between millions of text.
That said, we’re unsure if Apple has also fixed the stereotypical emoji suggestions for Africa (which we covered recently) in the iOS 17.5 beta 2 update, but hope that Apple fixes them in the coming updates.