Remove WP Emojis — Correctly

Description

Make your header clean, lean, and mean.

Emoji support is now so widespread that this feature should no longer belong to the WordPress core — and certainly not on every page of every WordPress site.

But I noticed that other plugins don’t completely work, so that’s why I created this plugin.

Simply activate this plugin to completely — and correctly — remove the built-in support for emojis that was added in WordPress v4.2.

Features

  • Built using WordPress API and standards.
  • Works out of the box with no configuration and setup.
  • Compatible with the classic editor.
  • Clean and lean code.

FAQ

What’s different with this plugin compared to the others?

I encourage (actually, highly recommend) you to browse the source code and see it for yourself.

TL;DR: Other plugins don’t work correctly.

What’s the goal?

The goal is to update the code of this plugin until (hopefully) WordPress removes the emojis feature from its core.

Reviews

14 de octubre, 2026
Lovely, simple, lightweight plugin which dequeues the scripts involved in detecting browser emoji support (so they never run). WordPress's storing of emoji support capabilities in the browser very much appears to contradict EU privacy laws/directives, as the process is non-essential to the delivery of content. If you search for Emoji Caching could violate GDPR / CCPA you will find deeper, legal interpretations of why, in clear English – written by a very smart German chap named Jan. Note, too, that WordPress, themselves, do not believe storing of browser emoji capabilities in this way is an issue. Many thanks to Rey, the developer, for creating and sharing his solution.
16 de marzo, 2026
Really good plugin, just work correctly 👍
Read all 1 review

Contributors & Developers

“Remove WP Emojis — Correctly” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

1.1.2

  • Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 6.9.
  • Refactored version for clarity, correct hook usage, and leaner structure.

1.1.1

  • Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 6.8.

1.1.0

  • Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 6.7.
  • Tackle (potential) naming collision problem.
  • Uses short array syntax.
  • Update readme.txt.

1.0.1

  • Fix some naming convention for clarity.
  • Update readme.txt.

1.0.0

  • Initial release.