Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)

Disable the WordPress emoji functionality to improve performance and privacy.

★ 5/5 stars (108 ratings · 99% 5-star) · 60,000+ active sites · 1.1M+ total downloads — as of May 2026

Architecture

The plugin uses:

• Zero runtime dependencies — the plugin has no third-party runtime dependencies.

├── .github/workflows/ci.yml     # GitHub Actions CI
├── bin/generate-readme.php       # README generator
├── composer.json
├── disable-emojis.php            # Plugin entry point
├── phpcs.xml.dist                # PHP_CodeSniffer configuration
├── phpstan.neon                  # PHPStan configuration
├── readme.txt                    # WordPress.org plugin readme
├── README.md
├── src/
│   └── EmojiModule.php           # Core emoji disabling logic
└── tests/
    ├── EmojiModuleTest.php       # Unit tests
    └── bootstrap.php             # WordPress function stubs

Installation

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.

Visit the Disable Emojis plugin page for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Quality

Tool	Command	Purpose
PHP_CodeSniffer	composer phpcs	Sniffs for PSR-12 violations
PHP_CodeSniffer	composer phpcbf	Auto-fixes PSR-12 violations
PHP-CS-Fixer	composer cs	Dry-run style check
PHP-CS-Fixer	composer cs:fix	Auto-fixes style issues
PHPStan	composer phpstan	Static analysis at level 6

All code uses declare(strict_types=1) and follows PSR-12.

Contributing

1. Clone the repository

2. Run composer install

3. Make your changes in src/

4. Run the quality tooling:

   composer phpcs
   composer phpstan

5. Submit a pull request

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.

Changelog

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.