Emoji crossfire: Microsoft is also changing its gun emoji, but in a different way

Earlier this week, we learned that Apple plans to replace the gun emoji with a water pistol once iOS 10 rolls out. The picture is a part of 12 new emoji, which depict women in more professions and sports, a stay-at-home dad, and the LGBT flag — you know, the important stuff, because it's emoji that will drive our culture forward. And, apparently, replacing a gun with a water pistol will reduce shootings, but we digress.

Microsoft also made changes in this regard, but in a different manner. See, Microsoft's version of the emoji used to look like a toy laser gun, but now, after the August 2 update, it's actually a revolver. Now, the timing for this may look like a jab at Apple or a political statement, but it is more probably a coincidence.

The switch is part of a large emoji overhaul that Microsoft has been planning for a while. The company wants to ensure that users would be able to communicate with no confusion, which is why it decided to re-design all of its smileys according to the standards of the Unicode Consortium. The end goal is that the emoji you send out would look similarly and represent the same emotion on the receiving device, no matter what model it is (for example – Samsung's latest rolleye emoji is pretty off).

In other words, it seems iOS users should be careful with their new water pistol – sending a message like “I am going to *water gun* you” may have a very different meaning on a non-iOS 10 device...

Get Visible as low as $20/mo for 1 year. Limited time offer with code: FRESHSTART

$20 /mo

$25

$5 off (20%)

Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.

Buy at Visible