Apple Gun Emoji: Will Replacing Pistol With Water Gun Really Make A Difference?

Apple has replaced the gun emoji with a water gun in iOS 10, but will it make any difference?

iOS 10 Beta 4 released to developers Monday and while the it brought with it more than 100 new emoji, one in particular has struck a chord with Apple users around the world: the gun emoji -- or lack thereof.

In the latest version of developer iOS 10 software, Apple makes a clear personal statement about its stance on gun violence, replacing the classic pistol emoji with a neon green water gun.

Though companies like Apple and Microsoft have shown adamant support gun control via symbolism, both lobbying to keep a proposed rifle emoji out of new round of universal emoji released in late June, Apple is taking their gun regulation stance to an even more obvious level. Apple has yet to issue a public regarding the removal and replacement of the gun emoji with a water gun, but the change marks a clear stance on gun control issues.

While social media doesn’t seem to be overly concerned with the change beyond a few tongue-in-cheek comments about second amendment rights, the general consensus seems to be, does it really matter? Can changing a single emoji make any difference for gun violence in America and around the world?

Meanwhile, others wonder if changing the pistol emoji to a water gun might have negative ramifications the company hasn’t considered.

In an article for Business Insider, reporter Rob Price theorizes that Apple making such a dramatic change to an existing emoji’s design could cause “widespread confusion across platforms,” and even potentially affect the way a text is interpreted legally.

Every platform (i.e. Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, HTC) has a different way of rendering a given emoji . Though Apple users will see a green squirt gun in their texts and posts, the same emoji on a Samsung user’s device will show up as a realistic handgun. Changing the Apple gun emoji to a water gun could make the intention behind the emoji ambiguous as it is interpreted across devices.

“What if a joke sent from an Apple user to a Google user is misconstrued due to differences in rendering? Or if a genuine threat sent by an Google user to a Apple user goes unreported because it's taken as a joke,” Price theorizes.

In March, a Frenchman was jailed for three months for sending a text with a gun emoji to his girlfriend, while last June two South Carolina men were taken into custody for sending three “threatening emoji” via Facebook.

iOS 10’s new gun emoji is accompanied by 100 other new emoji Apple is adding to bring diversity to family and gender related emoji.