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Apple shoots down pistol emoji for water gun

Apple is getting rid of the controversial pistol emoji in iOS 10.

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Today’s update also applies to the forthcoming versions of iOS, tvOS, macOS and watchOS.

There have also been refinements to the haircut emojis, along with the dancing duo – there’s now an option with two guys, as well! – among others.

In addition, we’ve got an extra inclusion in the category – the rainbow flag, for the LGBTI community.

The new green and orange pistol emoji looks more like a toy and will replace the black and silver revolver, but some people have mocked the swap on Twitter.

In 2015, Apple came under fire in Russian courts for their inclusion of same-sex couple emojis that came pre-loaded on iPhones.

The tech giant has unveiled more than 100 new and redesigned characters including more options for skin tones, more women in diverse professional roles and more detailed characters. Earlier this year, Apple and Microsoft successfully argued against the Olympic inspired gun.

But Apple’s decision does not mean all gun emojis are going away.

However, that’s not the only emoji change you’ll see.

New emojis have been expected to be released with Apple’s latest software update after the Unicode Consortium approved new characters as part of Unicode 9.0.

But we were even more excited to hear about the empowering new emojis announced by Apple on Monday.

According to CNNMoney, Apple didn’t address the pistol removal in a statement about the new icons.

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The focus on emojis doesn’t end with new characters, however. The Unicode Consortium expects the new emojis to be deployed by the end of this year.

Image Credit Apple Inc