#5 by installs
LiteSpeed Cache
All-in-one unbeatable acceleration & PageSpeed improvement: caching, image/CSS/JS optimization...
- Installs
- 7+ million
- Rating
- 4.8 (2.8K)
- Updated
- 11 days ago
Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)
Disable the WordPress emoji functionality to improve performance and privacy.
- Active installs
- 60,000+
- #657 of 1,000
- Downloads, all time
- 1.3M
- 1,269,260
- Downloads, 30 days
- 19.2K
- 4.7K in the last 7
- Rating
- 5.0 / 5
- 108 reviews
- Last updated
- 5 months ago
- Jun 5, 2026
- Version
- 1.9.3
- 23 releases
Upkeep and compatibility
| Last updated | June 5, 2026Updated in the last year |
|---|---|
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.0.8Older than WordPress 7.1.4, the current release |
| Needs WordPress | 4.8 or newer |
| Needs PHP | Not stated |
| First published | March 22, 2015 |
| Support, last two months | 1 of 1 threads resolved (100%) |
Reviews
5.0 / 5 from 108 reviews
| 5 stars | 107 |
|---|---|
| 4 stars | 0 |
| 3 stars | 0 |
| 2 stars | 0 |
| 1 star | 1 |
Downloads, last 30 days
What the author says it does
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
The opening of the plugin's own description. The full text, installation notes and changelog are on its WordPress.org page.
Questions the author answers
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.
Latest changelog entry
- Fixed package name in Composer installation instructions (emojiis → emojis)
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Where this page's numbers come from
Read from the WordPress.org plugin API on , when WordPress 7.1.4 was the current release. WordPress.org rounds active installs into buckets. These are the directory's figures, not my verdict, and I haven't tested this plugin. The author takes donations at their donate page.