X Reverts Water Pistol Emoji Back to Firearm Icon

The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has made a significant change by redesigning its 🔫 Water Pistol emoji to depict an actual firearm (via Emojipedia).

This move marks a departure from the trend adopted by other major emoji vendors, who had transitioned away from firearm imagery between 2016 and 2018. The update, which started rolling out on July 18th, the day after World Emoji Day 2024, is currently available through X’s web client.

This client still utilizes the Twemoji emoji design set. However, it’s important to note that this change will not affect mobile users on Android devices, as the Twemoji set was replaced by native device emojis in February 2023.

Similarly, iOS users, who have always used Apple’s native emojis, will also not see this update.

The recent redesign essentially reverses a cross-platform shift that began in 2016, when Apple initiated the change from a realistic firearm to a water pistol. This change was gradually adopted by other vendors, leading to the universal adoption of the water pistol design by 2018.

This update is the first modification to the Twemoji emoji design set used by X since July of the previous year, when updates were made to the 😷 Face with Medical Mask, 🥺 Pleading Face, and 🥹 Face Holding Back Tears emojis

Furthermore, since October 2022, a separate branch of Twemoji has been maintained on GitHub by former Twemoji designer Justine De Caires. This open-source branch, which has seen contributions from Discord designers, still uses the water pistol design implemented in 2018.

The decision by X to revert to the firearm design could reignite debates about the influence of digital symbols on user perception and behavior.