Hijab emoji coming to the iPhone as part of iOS 11.1 update

New gender-neutral characters are also on their way

The Apple version of the headscarf emoji (Apple)

Apple has announced that hundreds of brand new emoji are coming to the iPhone.

The company revealed many of the new additions earlier this year, including emoji depicting a woman in a headscarf and gender-neutral characters.

They’ll roll out as part of the upcoming iOS 11.1 update. It hasn’t got an official release date yet, but the developer and public beta preview will be available to download next week.

Apple has also promised to introduce “more emotive” smiley faces, clothing options, food types, animals and mythical creatures.

“The new emoji are designed to reveal every detail and adapted from approved characters in Unicode 10,” the company said.

“iOS 11.1 will also include 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.”

Rayouf Alhumedhi, a Saudi teenager, persuaded the group that develops emoji to create one that looked like her and "millions of women from different races" around the world.

She said it was "baffling" an appropriate image did not exist already, and wrote to the Unicode consortium with her suggestion.

Apple announced it had accepted the design earlier this summer.