Apple's fixed the Jerusalem 'flag' bug in iOS 17.5's keyboard

Apple's second iOS 17.5 developer beta has fixed a bug that showed the Palestinian flag in the predictive text system when users typed in "Jerusalem."

On April 10, complaints were made to social media that iOS 17.4.1 had a bug in the autocorrect system. For some iPhone users, typing Jerusalem on the standard keyboard in iMessage offered the Palestinian flag in the predictive text system.

At the same time, searching for Jerusalem in emoji search came up with the same result. However, the problem only existed for some users using specific languages, such as British English.

At the time, Apple confirmed it was aware of a bug in predictive emoji, and that it would be fixed in the next update.

AppleInsider confirmed the bug has been fixed in the second developer beta for iOS 17.5. Also, checking other cities in the system doesn't bring up any flags at all.

The existence of the bug, most likely due to Apple's analysis of texts from millions by its machine learning systems, led to social outcry and claims of antisemitism, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

12 Comments

ferdinandcc 19 comments · 13 Years

About 7 months ago

Oh man, if ever there were an article that AppleInsider should lock down comments on for political reasons, its this one.

ilarynx 125 comments · 15 Years

ferdinandcc said:

Oh man, if ever there were an article that AppleInsider should lock down comments on for political reasons, its this one.

The editorial team does a good job with such things. The previous article on the subject was open for comment and several people posted very informed and informative comments, noting the likely cause of the "bug" (more logical and far less nefarious than the hair-on-fire crowd crying "bias!").

sidrictheviking 191 comments · 11 Years

It affects English with Ireland as the Region, too. Not something I would have ever expected, to be honest. I’ve noticed flag emojis offered with countries many times but never with any city. I tried dozens of capital cities just now but didn’t get any flag emojis (e.g. Dublin, London, Rome, Paris, Beijing, Canberra, Wellington, Amman, Ramallah, Cairo, Brasilia, Naypyidaw, Kyiv, Moscow, Port Moresby)

Curiouser and curiouser.

😎🇮🇪☘️

mknelson 1146 comments · 9 Years

sidrictheviking said:

It affects English with Ireland as the Region, too. Not something I would have ever expected, to be honest. I’ve noticed flag emojis offered with countries many times but never with any city. I tried dozens of capital cities just now but didn’t get any flag emojis (e.g. Dublin, London, Rome, Paris, Beijing, Canberra, Wellington, Amman, Ramallah, Cairo, Brasilia, Naypyidaw, Kyiv, Moscow, Port Moresby)

Curiouser and curiouser.
😎🇮🇪☘️

I don't know about "Curiouser and curiouser". Most people don't type a capital city and then a flag together. They usually consider it to be obvious to just say Dublin, or London, etc. as you list. Jerusalem is unique in my mind in being a city claimed by two cultures. The flag appearing in sentences enough to be picked up by predictive text is understandable.

That's especially true in places like Ireland (presumably also including Northern Ireland) where there is a great deal of sympathy for the cause of Palestinian independence.

AUsername 8 comments · New User

I also get a little offended when the PRoChina flag 🇨🇳 pops up any time I write China 🇹🇼 I guess that's just American politics though, they are happy cast aside the principles of democracy and freedom to please dictatorships whenever they can gain a profit from them so most Americans are used to hearing the PRoC 🇨🇳 by the name "China" and just call China 🇹🇼 by the island name of Taiwan 🤷‍♂️