Apple has been urged to rethink its plan to convert the handgun emoji symbol into a water pistol icon.
The Emojipedia website argued that the symbol could still appear as a lifelike gun in messages sent to non-iOS users.
Apple made the change in the wake of a series of shootings in the US.
However, Microsoft announced this week that its toy gun symbol would be redesigned as a more realistic-looking firearm.
The emoji character system allows companies to use slightly different designs of the same basic objects, signs or expressions.