Back in April I wrote about the growing problem of emojis being mistranslated between different platforms. Because different platforms use different illustrations for their emoji, your message can come across very differently to the recipient.
Apple are the main offenders. Research has found that their “grinning face with smiling eyes” is most commonly interpreted as a negative emoji.
Now they have stepped that up a level. They have changed their pistol emoji from a handgun to a water pistol.
You would get no prizes for guessing that every other emoji pack out there displays this emoji as a handgun. That is because it is the description of the emoji, as defined by the Unicode standard.
As highlighted by Reddit user Illford, Apple’s decision has the potential to cause some major misunderstandings.
Can you spot the problem with how this message would be displayed on Android devices?
As anyone who has tried to charge an iPhone at a friend’s house knows, Apple are not ones to adhere to industry standards. But this deviation has huge potential to cause real upset.
It’s just as well Unicode have just introduced the facepalm emoji. But goodness knows how Apple would illustrate it.
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