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Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)

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Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)

by Ryan Hellyer

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Description

This plugin disables the WordPress emoji functionality, removing unnecessary code bloat that adds support for emojis in older browsers.

What it does

  • Removes the emoji detection script from wp_head and the admin
  • Removes emoji styles from wp_print_styles and admin
  • Removes emoji DNS prefetching, preventing connections to s.w.org
  • Removes the wpemoji TinyMCE plugin
  • Strips emoji CDN hostname from DNS prefetch hints

Performance & Privacy

Emojis will still display in modern browsers that have built-in support. This plugin simply removes the extra HTTP requests and JavaScript overhead for browsers that don’t need it. Additionally, it prevents DNS prefetching to WordPress.org’s emoji CDN, improving privacy.

Note: Emoticons like :) will continue to work as expected.

Requirements

  • PHP 7.4+
  • WordPress 5.0+

GDPR compliancy

This plugin does not send any data to external servers. It disables DNS prefetching of emojis within WordPress, which should ensure improved privacy. To determine if your site is GDPR compliant, please seek legal advice. I have done my best to ensure the plugin is 100% GDPR compliant, but I am not a lawyer so cannot guarantee anything.

Architecture

The plugin uses:

Quality

All code uses declare(strict_types=1) and follows PSR-12. The plugin runs the following tooling:

  • PHP_CodeSniffer (run via composer phpcs) — sniffs for PSR-12 violations
  • PHP-CS-Fixer (run via composer cs) — dry-run style check
  • PHPStan at level 6 (run via composer phpstan) — static analysis

Standard installation

  1. Upload the disable-emojis folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install via the WordPress plugin installer
  2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress
  3. Done! Emoji bloat is automatically removed.

Composer installation

If your site uses Composer for dependency management:

composer require ryanhellyer/disable-emojiis

Visit the Disable Emojis plugin page for more information.

Will this break emojis on my site?

No. Modern browsers have built-in emoji support. This plugin only removes the JavaScript and CSS that WordPress adds for very old browsers.

Will emoticons still work?

Yes. Text-based emoticons like :) and :D will continue to work as they always have.

Is this plugin GDPR compliant?

It does not connect to any external servers or send any data. It removes the DNS prefetch to WordPress.org’s emoji CDN. See the GDPR section above for details.

It does what it says - Still necessary?

By theatercuriosum on April 30, 2026

I think the plugin does what it says. No errors, no ads, no premium. Just a tiny plugin.
Though I never found out, if it is still necessary in 2026.

Small but mighty

By Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems) (MadtownLems) on September 22, 2025

It's so rare to find a plugin these days that has no bloat, no upsells, no ANYTHING beyond exactly what's needed to get the job done. Thank you!

Clean Up Your Site & Improve GDPR Compliance

By TraceMyIP on June 9, 2025

Disable Emojis by Ryan Hellyer is a gem! With 60k+ active installs and nearly perfect 5-star rating, it's clearly doing something right. This lightweight plugin strips out WordPress's bloated emoji code while keeping your content looking great in modern browsers. The GDPR-friendly bonus is huge - it stops DNS prefetching to external emoji servers, protecting visitor privacy. Ryan's been maintaining this for years and it shows. Your site loads faster, stays compliant, and emojis still work naturally. Win-win-win!

Doesn't activate

By kianmovahhed on November 13, 2024

Does not activate. Every time I click "activate", the page just refreshes with no action.

Does what I need it to

By Chris Lovie-Tyler (chrislt) on April 19, 2024

Thanks for making this plugin, Ryan!

Thorough and concise

By Walf (wallfur) on May 29, 2023

No settings, just works.

Performance increase

By Huckleberry (helijobs) on October 8, 2022

Tested with PageSpeed Insights.

I love it!

By mahyulan on October 3, 2021

Simple, lightweight and just doing the job! Thanks.

Works like a charm

By Robert (metbril) on March 1, 2021

No more loading from external sites. I'd like to self-host everything! Tested with 5.6.2

Works as expected!

By emilioborraz on December 30, 2020

It works perfectly!

1.9.3 (2026-06-05)

  • Fixed package name in Composer installation instructions (emojiis emojis)

1.9.2 (2026-05-10)

  • Documentation change — removed references to Modularity and PSR-4 autoloading

1.9.1 (2026-05-10)

  • Removed Composer autoloader — plugin loads via require_once instead of the vendor/autoload.php

1.9 (2026-05-06)

  • Name spacing the PSR implementation to prevent plugin clashes

1.8 (2026-04-30)

  • Refactor for modern PHP standards

1.7.8 (2026-04-29)

  • Confirmed support for newer WordPress versions.

1.7.7 (2024)

  • Confirmed support for newer WordPress versions.

1.7.6 (2023-06-28)

  • Confirmed support for newer WordPress versions.

1.7.5 (2023-05-19)

  • Added Composer support.

1.7.4 (2018-07-05)

  • Fixing typos.

1.7.3 (2018-07-05)

  • Version bump.

1.7.2 (2018-07-05)

  • Subtle improvement to code cleanliness.
  • Improved documentation regarding GDPR issues.

1.7.1 (2018-06-13)

  • Added GDPR friendly label.

1.7 (2017-08-04)

  • Removed DNS prefetch URL again.
  • Using simple string check rather than relying on internal WordPress filters.

1.6 (2017-07-19)

  • Removed DNS prefetch URL. Props to Aaron Queen.

1.5.3 (2016-12-19)

  • Catering to new DNS prefetch URL in version 4.7 of core.

1.5.2 (2016-08-23)

  • Improved documentation.
  • Removed redundant DNS prefetching.

1.5.1 (2016-08-23)

  • Updating documentation.

1.5 (2017-08-04)

  • Catering for invalid plugin array.

1.4 (2018-06-13)

  • Updating to use Otto’s code.

1.3 (2018-05-04)

  • Removing extraneous styles.

1.2 (2016-08-23)

  • Bug fix.

1.1 (2016-08-23)

  • Updating to work with latest beta.

1.0 (2015-03-22)

  • Initial release.
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