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iOS 11 gets emoji, security update ahead of iPhone X launch

Along with iOS 11.1, you also can download WatchOS 4.1 to access streaming music and a new Radio app.

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Shara Tibken Former managing editor
Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."
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Shara Tibken
2 min read

Apple's iOS 11 brings new emojis to iPhones and iPads. 

You'll now be able to send all of the "zombie" and "vomit" emojis you want. 

Apple on Tuesday released iOS 11.1, the latest software update for its iPhones and iPads. The update includes more than 70 new emojis and a much-needed security update that patches the KRACK Wi-Fi exploit. KRACK left iPhones and any other devices that connect to Wi-Fi open to hacking attacks.

The new emojis include: star-struck and exploding-head smiley faces, a woman with a headscarf, a sandwich, a coconut, a T. rex, a zebra, a zombie and an elf. 

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Apple also launched WatchOS 4.1 for Apple Watch users. That update brings music streaming and a new Radio app to the smartwatch.

The release comes only a few days before Friday's introduction of the iPhone X. The new device, arriving a decade after the first iPhone, marks the first major phone redesign by Apple in years. It ditches the home button in favor of Face ID and sports a flashy OLED display that stretches across the entire front of the phone. It also comes with a high price tag, with the lowest model starting at $999. 

iPhone X: Up close and personal with Apple's new phone

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The newly designed iPhone can't come soon enough. More than two-thirds of Apple's sales come from its popular smartphone, but iPhone sales dropped for the first time last year. The overall smartphone market also has been slowing down. Last year marked the slowest growth rate for the smartphone industry since it began, and Apple's iPhone sales dropped for four straight quarters. 

But the iPhone X could be one of Apple's most popular -- and toughest to get -- smartphones ever. Less than an hour after preorders began Oct. 27, shipping times were already at five to six weeks. 

CNET's Laura Hautala contributed to this report. 

Update, 10:45 a.m. PT: Adds background information. 

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