diff --git a/R/input-checkboxgroup.R b/R/input-checkboxgroup.R
index 611c1ea1a..2122b039a 100644
--- a/R/input-checkboxgroup.R
+++ b/R/input-checkboxgroup.R
@@ -75,9 +75,7 @@ checkboxGroupInput <- function(inputId, label, choices = NULL, selected = NULL,
   selected <- restoreInput(id = inputId, default = selected)
 
   # default value if it's not specified
-  if (!is.null(selected))
-    selected <- normalizeSelected(selected, inputId,
-      args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
+  if (!is.null(selected)) selected <- as.character(selected)
 
   options <- generateOptions(inputId, selected, inline,
     'checkbox', args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
diff --git a/R/input-radiobuttons.R b/R/input-radiobuttons.R
index 02a03c0d1..a9279b704 100644
--- a/R/input-radiobuttons.R
+++ b/R/input-radiobuttons.R
@@ -89,14 +89,12 @@ radioButtons <- function(inputId, label, choices = NULL, selected = NULL,
   selected <- restoreInput(id = inputId, default = selected)
 
   # default value if it's not specified
-  selected <- if (is.null(selected)) args$choiceValues[[1]] else {
-    normalizeSelected(selected, inputId, args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
-  }
+  selected <- if (is.null(selected)) args$choiceValues[[1]] else as.character(selected)
 
   if (length(selected) > 1) stop("The 'selected' argument must be of length 1")
 
-  options <- generateOptions(inputId, selected, inline, 'radio',
-                             args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
+  options <- generateOptions(inputId, selected, inline,
+    'radio', args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
 
   divClass <- "form-group shiny-input-radiogroup shiny-input-container"
   if (inline) divClass <- paste(divClass, "shiny-input-container-inline")
diff --git a/R/input-select.R b/R/input-select.R
index d6554091d..e87ab40fc 100644
--- a/R/input-select.R
+++ b/R/input-select.R
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ selectInput <- function(inputId, label, choices, selected = NULL,
   # default value if it's not specified
   if (is.null(selected)) {
     if (!multiple) selected <- firstChoice(choices)
-  } else selected <- normalizeSelected(selected, inputId, names(choices), unname(choices))
+  } else selected <- as.character(selected)
 
   if (!is.null(size) && selectize) {
     stop("'size' argument is incompatible with 'selectize=TRUE'.")
diff --git a/R/input-utils.R b/R/input-utils.R
index 03728994e..aecc23402 100644
--- a/R/input-utils.R
+++ b/R/input-utils.R
@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@ normalizeChoicesArgs <- function(choices, choiceNames, choiceValues) {
   # if-else to check that either choices OR (choiceNames + choiceValues)
   # were correctly provided
   if (is.null(choices)) {
-    if (length(choiceNames) == 0 || length(choiceValues) == 0) {
-      stop("Please specify a non-empty vector for `choices` (or,
-           alternatively, for both `choiceNames` and `choiceValues`).")
+    if (is.null(choiceNames) || is.null(choiceValues)) {
+      return(list(choiceNames = NULL, choiceValues = NULL))
+      # stop("Please specify a non-empty vector for `choices` (or,
+      #      alternatively, for both `choiceNames` and `choiceValues`).")
     }
     if (length(choiceNames) != length(choiceValues)) {
       stop("`choiceNames` and `choiceValues` must have the same length.")
@@ -33,37 +34,8 @@ normalizeChoicesArgs <- function(choices, choiceNames, choiceValues) {
     choiceValues <- unname(choices)
   }
 
-  return(list(choiceNames = choiceNames, choiceValues = choiceValues))
-}
-
-# Before shiny 0.9, `selected` refers to names/labels of `choices`; now it
-# refers to values. Below is a function for backward compatibility. It also
-# coerces the value to `character`.
-normalizeSelected <- function(selected, inputId, choiceNames, choiceValues) {
-  # this line accomplishes two tings:
-  #   - coerces selected to character
-  #   - drops name, otherwise toJSON() keeps it too
-  selected <- as.character(selected)
-
-  # if you are using optgroups, you're using shiny > 0.10.0, and you should
-  # already know that `selected` must be a value instead of a label
-  if (needOptgroup(choiceValues)) return(selected)
-
-  if (is.list(choiceNames)) choiceNames <- unlist(as.character(choiceNames))
-  if (is.list(choiceValues)) choiceValues <- unlist(choiceValues)
-
-  # when selected labels instead of values
-  i <- (selected %in% choiceNames) & !(selected %in% choiceValues)
-  if (any(i)) {
-    warnFun <- if (all(i)) {
-      # replace names with values
-      selected <- choiceValues[[which(choiceNames == selected)]]
-      warning
-    } else stop  # stop when it is ambiguous (some labels == values)
-    warnFun("'selected' must be the values instead of names of 'choices' ",
-            "for the input '", inputId, "'")
-  }
-  selected
+  return(list(choiceNames = as.list(choiceNames),
+              choiceValues = as.list(choiceValues)))
 }
 
 # generate options for radio buttons and checkbox groups (type = 'checkbox' or
diff --git a/R/update-input.R b/R/update-input.R
index f5ab062a8..9db8c4ea3 100644
--- a/R/update-input.R
+++ b/R/update-input.R
@@ -454,11 +454,11 @@ updateSliderInput <- function(session, inputId, label = NULL, value = NULL,
 updateInputOptions <- function(session, inputId, label = NULL, choices = NULL,
                                selected = NULL, inline = FALSE, type = NULL,
                                choiceNames = NULL, choiceValues = NULL) {
+  if (is.null(type)) stop("Please specify the type ('checkbox' or 'radio')")
+
   args <- normalizeChoicesArgs(choices, choiceNames, choiceValues)
 
-  if (!is.null(selected))
-    selected <- normalizeSelected(selected, session$ns(inputId),
-      args$choiceNames, args$choiceValues)
+  if (!is.null(selected)) selected <- as.character(selected)
 
   options <- if (!is.null(args$choiceValues)) {
     format(tagList(
@@ -558,7 +558,10 @@ updateRadioButtons <- function(session, inputId, label = NULL, choices = NULL,
                                selected = NULL, inline = FALSE,
                                choiceNames = NULL, choiceValues = NULL) {
   # you must select at least one radio button
-  if (is.null(selected) && !is.null(choices)) selected <- choices[[1]]
+  if (is.null(selected)) {
+    if (!is.null(choices)) selected <- choices[[1]]
+    else if (!is.null(choiceValues)) selected <- choiceValues[[1]]
+  }
   updateInputOptions(session, inputId, label, choices, selected,
     inline, 'radio', choiceNames, choiceValues)
 }
@@ -606,8 +609,7 @@ updateRadioButtons <- function(session, inputId, label = NULL, choices = NULL,
 updateSelectInput <- function(session, inputId, label = NULL, choices = NULL,
                               selected = NULL) {
   choices <- if (!is.null(choices)) choicesWithNames(choices)
-  if (!is.null(selected))
-    selected <- normalizeSelected(selected, inputId, names(choices), unname(choices))
+  if (!is.null(selected)) selected <- as.character(selected)
   options <- if (!is.null(choices)) selectOptions(choices, selected)
   message <- dropNulls(list(label = label, options = options, value = selected))
   session$sendInputMessage(inputId, message)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-bootstrap.r b/tests/testthat/test-bootstrap.r
index d8b490078..db8a93239 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-bootstrap.r
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-bootstrap.r
@@ -192,21 +192,18 @@ test_that("selectInput selects items by default", {
 test_that("normalizeChoicesArgs does its job", {
 
   # Unnamed vectors and lists
-  expected <- list(choiceNames = c("a", "b"), choiceValues = list("a", "b"))
+  expected <- list(choiceNames = list("a", "b"), choiceValues = list("a", "b"))
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(c("a", "b"), NULL, NULL), expected)
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(list("a", "b"), NULL, NULL), expected)
 
   # Named list
-  expected <- list(choiceNames = c("one", "two"), choiceValues = list("a", "b"))
+  expected <- list(choiceNames = list("one", "two"), choiceValues = list("a", "b"))
   x <- list(one = "a", two = "b")
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(x, NULL, NULL), expected)
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, names(x), unname(x)), expected)
 
   # Using unnamed `choiceNames` and `choiceValues` vectors/lists directly
-  expected <- list(choiceNames = c("one", "two"), choiceValues = c("a", "b"))
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, c("one", "two"),  c("a", "b")), expected)
-
-  expected <- list(choiceNames = list("one", "two"), choiceValues = list("a", "b"))
   expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, list("one", "two"),  list("a", "b")), expected)
 
   # Using choiceNames with HTML and choiceValues
@@ -219,5 +216,21 @@ test_that("normalizeChoicesArgs does its job", {
   x <- list("a", "b")
   expect_warning(res <- normalizeChoicesArgs(x, nms, vals),
     "Using `choices` argument; ignoring `choiceNames` and `choiceValues`.")
-  expect_equal(res, list(choiceNames = c("a", "b"), choiceValues = list("a", "b")))
+  expect_equal(res, list(choiceNames = list("a", "b"), choiceValues = list("a", "b")))
+
+  # Set possibilities to character(0)
+  expected <- list(choiceNames = list(), choiceValues = list())
+  expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(character(0), NULL, NULL), expected)
+  expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, character(0), character(0)), expected)
+  expect_warning(res <- normalizeChoicesArgs(character(0), character(0), character(0)),
+    "Using `choices` argument; ignoring `choiceNames` and `choiceValues`.")
+  expect_equal(res, expected)
+
+  # Set possibilities to character(0) in an inconsistent way
+  expected <- list(choiceNames = NULL, choiceValues = NULL)
+  expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, character(0), NULL), expected)
+  expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, NULL, character(0)), expected)
+
+  # Set all possibilities to NULL
+  expect_equal(normalizeChoicesArgs(NULL, NULL, NULL), expected)
 })