Apple To Add Gender-Neutral Emojis

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Apple's new upgrade for its mobile devices will include hundreds of new emojis, including gender-neutral characters and faces, the company announced Friday.

iPhone and iPad running iOS 11.1 will include new characters announced on World Emoji Day like Woman with Headscarf, Bearded Person, Breastfeeding, Zombie, Person in Lotus Position and new food items such as Sandwich and Coconut.

Also included in the update is the Love-You Gesture, designed after the "I love you" hand sign in American Sign Language, according to Apple.

The new emojis will debut for developers next week and broadly to the public in upcoming software updates for iOS, macOS and watchOS.

In 2015, Apple developed emojis with various skin colors and hair styles after the Unicode Consortium, the group that governs the emoji standard, proposed an update to address emoji diversity.