Apple says it will fix Palestinian flag emoji recommendation when typing ‘Jerusalem’ on iPhone

Apple’s recent iOS 17.4.1 update brought a change to the iPhone that landed the company in the middle of a debate it probably doesn’t want to participate in.

This week, pro-Israeli social media users began notice that the iPhone keyboard would recommend the Palestinian flag emoji when the word “Jerusalem” was typed.

The tweet may have been deleted

“Dear @Apple @AppleSupport @tim_cook, I just updated my software to iOS version 17.4.1, and now when I type the capital of Israel , Jerusalem, I am offered the Palestinian flag emoji . ,” job British TV presenter Rachel Riley on X. “This didn’t happen on my phone immediately before this update.”

Riley called the emoji recommendation a “form of anti-Semitism.”

The status of the city of Jerusalem has long been a point of contention. Aside from Israel itself, only a handful of countries recognize Jerusalem as the country’s capital (including the United States after a decision by President Trump in 2017). However, the United Nations as well as the wider international community consider Jerusalem to actually be two cities, with East Jerusalem – including the entire Old City – considered part of the West Bank or occupied Palestine.

Apple says emoji will be fixed

Apple is apparently aware of the problem. The iPhone maker said in a statement provided to media outlet Apple I more that the emoji recommendation was unintentional and that it plans to roll out a fix in a future update.

According to a social media user who tested the emoji glitch, the emoji recommendation bug was not appearing for all iPhone users. It depended on users’ iPhone keyboard settings. User @DaniRFlynn said they changed the keyboard options in their iPhone settings and discovered that the Palestinian flag emoji was only recommended when a user typed “Jerusalem” on the UK English, Singapore English, and English keyboards. from South Africa.

This is not the first time Apple has sparked controversy over global affairs. Regarding the emoji issues specifically, Apple deleted Taiwan flag emoji in 2019 from its iOS keyboard for Hong Kong and Macau users.

In 2019, Apple Maps began designating Crimea within the framework of Russia. The company was criticized for this decision. In 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Apple Maps amended Crimea is once again part of Ukraine for users outside of Russia.

It’s not just Apple either. Last October, Palestinian Instagram users found that their social media bios were inaccurate. translated by the platform and referring to it with the expression “Palestinian terrorist”. Meta apologized for the issue at the time and released a fix.