Apple iOS 14.2 update adds new emojis, ‘people detecting’ social distancing measures

The world’s most valuable company has released an update featuring a kind of creepy way to enforce social distancing.

Apple has a new tool to help you enforce social distancing.

The latest update to Apple’s iOS software (iOS 14.2) that powers iPhones brings a number of new features and improvements.

One of them can detect people around you and measure how far away they are.

You might not know about the iPhone’s magnifier app.

The magnifier app in the control centre of an iPhone.

It’s buried in the Accessibility menu of your settings, but after you’ve turned it on you’ll get an app on your home screen and can also place a shortcut in your control centre.

Once turned on you can also triple-click your home or lock button to quickly turn on the magnifier app, which uses the camera to zoom in on objects.

If you’ve got one of the fancy new iPhone 12 Pro phones, there’s even more you can do with it.

People detection uses the LiDAR sensor.

The people detection mode on the iPhone’s magnifier app.

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The new LIDAR sensor in the iPhone 12 Pro can be used to detect nearby people and measure the distance between you and them, helping you maintain the recommended 1.5m distance.

Other additions in the new update include more wallpapers, charging optimisation for AirPods devices to help prolong the life of their irreplaceable batteries, and a fix to stop reminders defaulting to “times in the past”.

There are also more than 100 new emojis.

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iOS 14.2 has more than 100 new emojis. Picture: Emojipedia

For when you’re laughing to keep from crying.

A thong emoji has arrived on iPhone just in time for summer.

Some of the highlights of the new characters include a thong, a ninja, and a smiling face with a tear.

There’s also a new Groucho Marx emoji, transgender pride flag and a boomerang among the dozens of new emojis.

The iOS 14.2 app update is available to download for iPhone users now.