Google changes gun emoji to water pistol; bombs and knives remain

is replacing the pistol emoji with a water pistol on its Android smartphone system, according to the website Emojipedia. — dpa

Google has become the latest major tech company to distance itself from guns – at least through the medium of emojis.

The tech giant is replacing the pistol emoji with a water pistol on its Android smartphone system, according to the website Emojipedia. That means Android users can soon expect to see an orange-and-yellow water pistol when using the gun emoji.

Apple made a similar move in 2016, and Whatsapp, Twitter and Samsung followed suit soon afterwards.

Microsoft had originally used a toy ray gun for its emoji in 2014, but switched back to a real pistol in 2016. It's now planning to switch back to a toy gun, and Facebook is also making the change, according to Emojipedia.

While most platforms are striving to give the gun emoji a non-violent feel, users can still use knives, daggers, bombs, swords and even coffins in messages.

The non-profit Unicode Consortium is responsible for the introduction of new emojis, and manufacturers and developers are forced to stick to their standards. Users of different tech companies can, however, often notice different results when communicating across devices. — dpa