Title: Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) Author: Ryan Hellyer Published: 22 มีนาคม 2015 Last modified: 10 พฤษภาคม 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/disable-emojis/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=1145188) ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/disable-emojis_d3c7d6.svg) # Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) By [Ryan Hellyer](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryanhellyer/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/disable-emojis.1.9.2.zip) * [Details](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/#description) * [Reviews](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/#reviews) * [Installation](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/#installation) * [Development](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/) ## 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 ## 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. #### Composer installation If your site uses Composer for dependency management: ``` composer require ryanhellyer/disable-emojiis ``` Visit the [Disable Emojis plugin page](https://geek.hellyer.kiwi/plugins/disable-emojis/) for more information. ## FAQ ### 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. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0f39f6db60da6b51ef6dd7363346f3952f57453acbb5467727363b5acfdb00ba? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[It does what it says – Still necessary?](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/it-does-what-it-says-still-necessary/)󠁿 [theatercuriosum](https://profiles.wordpress.org/theatercuriosum/) 30 เมษายน 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. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/86c46ccacac2166f2bfb52a3f2b8a1f61731fa4a4d54c4788a38ad508e890741? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Small but mighty](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/small-but-mighty-5/)󠁿 [Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/madtownlems/) 22 กันยายน 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! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cc2a9cd5e4097876802a40afc3f0865a84fa3c9d2c2caa6c789218fe9ae52b2f? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Clean Up Your Site & Improve GDPR Compliance](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/clean-up-your-site-improve-gdpr-compliance/)󠁿 [TraceMyIP](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tracemyip/) 9 มิถุนายน 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! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/2545c79a4e73bc8e0f2a745acac07fbcaced0e3ebf242465d80c33fbe7c48123? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Doesn’t activate](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/doesnt-activate-4/)󠁿 [kianmovahhed](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kianmovahhed/) 13 พฤศจิกายน 2024 Does not activate. Every time I click “activate”, the page just refreshes with no action. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c8ce6d15ccb9ae5d78178f7de418f9ebe17db1d35dc62bd3fc56d3fcbc5944a3? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Does what I need it to](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/does-what-i-need-it-to-20/)󠁿 [Chris Lovie-Tyler](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chrislt/) 19 เมษายน 2024 Thanks for making this plugin, Ryan! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ccc0110c25af06bdfe181bb51f073676190256dd92b5101e299063128c686be0? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Thorough and concise](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/thorough-and-concise/)󠁿 [Walf](https://profiles.wordpress.org/wallfur/) 29 พฤษภาคม 2023 No settings, just works. [ Read all 108 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Ryan Hellyer ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryanhellyer/) “Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)” has been translated into 22 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/disable-emojis/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/disable-emojis) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/disable-emojis/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/disable-emojis/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/disable-emojis/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/disable-emojis/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## 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. ## Meta * Version **1.9.2** * Last updated **2 สัปดาห์ ago** * Active installations **60,000+** * WordPress version ** 4.8 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.0** * Languages * [Czech](https://cs.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Danish](https://da.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Dutch](https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [English (Canada)](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [English (South Africa)](https://en-za.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [English (UK)](https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [French (France)](https://fr.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Galician](https://gl.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Hebrew](https://he.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Hungarian](https://hu.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Japanese](https://ja.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Kurdish (Kurmanji)](https://kmr.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Serbian](https://sr.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Spanish (Argentina)](https://es-ar.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Spanish (Mexico)](https://es-mx.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Spanish (Venezuela)](https://ve.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/), [Swedish](https://sv.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/) และ [Tibetan](https://bo.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/disable-emojis) * Tags * [disable](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/disable/)[emojis](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/emojis/) [GDPR](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/gdpr/)[performance](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/performance/) * [Advanced View](https://th.wordpress.org/plugins/disable-emojis/advanced/) ## Ratings 5 out of 5 stars. * [ 107 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 1 1-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Ryan Hellyer ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryanhellyer/) ## Support Issues resolved in last two months: 1 out of 1 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/disable-emojis/) ## Donate Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin? [ Donate to this plugin ](https://geek.hellyer.kiwi/donate/)