Ryan Hellyer

<p>This plugin disables the WordPress emoji functionality, removing unnecessary code bloat that adds support for emojis in older browsers.</p>
<h4>What it does</h4>
<ul>
<li>Removes the emoji detection script from <code>wp_head</code> and the admin</li>
<li>Removes emoji styles from <code>wp_print_styles</code> and admin</li>
<li>Removes emoji DNS prefetching, preventing connections to <code>s.w.org</code></li>
<li>Removes the <code>wpemoji</code> TinyMCE plugin</li>
<li>Strips emoji CDN hostname from DNS prefetch hints</li>
</ul>
<h4>Performance & Privacy</h4>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Note: Emoticons like <code>:)</code> will continue to work as expected.</p>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>PHP 7.4+</li>
<li>WordPress 5.0+</li>
</ul>
<h4>GDPR compliancy</h4>
<p>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.</p>
<h4>Architecture</h4>
<p>The plugin uses:</p>
<h4>Quality</h4>
<p>All code uses <code>declare(strict_types=1)</code> and follows PSR-12. The plugin runs the following tooling:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>PHP_CodeSniffer</strong> (run via <code>composer phpcs</code>) — sniffs for PSR-12 violations</li>
<li><strong>PHP-CS-Fixer</strong> (run via <code>composer cs</code>) — dry-run style check</li>
<li><strong>PHPStan</strong> at level 6 (run via <code>composer phpstan</code>) — static analysis</li>
</ul>


Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly)

should add this one as well !

remove_action( 'embed_head', 'print_emoji_detection_script' );

another remove filter to add to the too long list !

No configuration needed. No ads. Does the job.

Clean

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!

Clean Up Your Site & Improve GDPR Compliance


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!


Small but mighty

Disable the WordPress emoji functionality to improve performance and privacy.

Thoriq Firdaus

<p>This plugin gives you the ability to manage core WordPress features like Comments, the Block Editor (Gutenberg), Emojis, XML-RPC, Feeds, Updates, Automatic Updates, Cron, Heartbeat, and more. If you don’t need certain features, you can easily toggle them off or customize their behavior.</p>
<p>It also includes additional utility features, like showing your site’s environment type in the admin bar, enabling maintenance or private mode, or using random URLs for media pages, which you can enable or disable as needed.</p>
<h3>Features</h3>
<p>This plugin organizes these settings into sections so you can quickly find and manage what you need:</p>
<h4>General</h4>
<p>Tweak key WordPress features to fit your needs:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Block Editor</strong>: Prefer the Classic Editor? Disable the Block Editor for all or specific post types.</li>
<li><strong>Block-based Widgets</strong>: Turn off the “Block Widgets Editor”.</li>
<li><strong>Comments</strong>: Disable comments and remove related elements in the admin area.</li>
<li><strong>Revisions</strong>: Disable or limit the number of post revisions to save to improve performance.</li>
<li><strong>Post Embed</strong>: Stop other sites from embedding your post content.</li>
<li><strong>Self-ping</strong>: Prevent pingbacks to your own site.</li>
<li><strong>Feeds</strong>: Disable RSS feeds if you don’t need them.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Admin</h4>
<p>Customize your admin experience:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dashboard Widgets</strong>: Remove unwanted or all dashboard widgets.</li>
<li><strong>Footer Text</strong>: Get rid of the Thank you for creating with WordPress footer text.</li>
<li><strong>Update Nags</strong>: Hide update notices for WordPress, plugins, and themes.</li>
<li><strong>Admin Bar</strong>: Remove the admin bar on your site’s front end.</li>
<li><strong>Howdy Text</strong>: Replace the Howdy greeting in the admin bar.</li>
<li><strong>Environment Type</strong>: Display site’s environment type (e.g. Development, Staging, Production) in the admin bar.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Media</h4>
<p>Adjust media-related settings:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Attachment Page</strong>: Disable attachment pages or re-enable them on WordPress 6.4+.</li>
<li><strong>Attachment Slug</strong>: Use random URLs for media pages to avoid slug conflicts.</li>
<li><strong>Infinite Scroll</strong>: Restore infinite scroll in the Media Library.</li>
<li><strong>Big Image Size</strong>: Prevent WordPress to scale down big images.</li>
<li><strong>Image Quality</strong>: Adjust the quality of uploaded images (JPEG only).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Site</h4>
<p>Control access and assets on your site:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Search</strong>: Prevent use from using search on your site to find posts, pages, and other content.</li>
<li><strong>Sitemap</strong>: Disable built-in XML sitemaps in WordPress.</li>
</ul>
<p>Unload some of the assets that are not always necessary for your site:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Emojis</strong>: Improve performance by removing emoji scripts and styles.</li>
<li><strong>Script Version</strong>: Remove version query strings from scripts and styles URLs.</li>
<li><strong>jQuery Migrate</strong>: Disable jQuery Migrate if it’s not needed.</li>
</ul>
<p>Clean-up some unused metadata from your site:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>RSD Link</strong>: Remove the Really Simple Discovery (RSD) tag.</li>
<li><strong>Generator Meta Tag</strong>: Remove the WordPress version meta tag.</li>
<li><strong>Shortlink</strong>: Remove the shortlink meta tag.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Security</h4>
<p>Improve your site’s security by disabling or limiting access to certain features:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>File Edit</strong>: Disable the built-in file editor for themes and plugins.</li>
<li><strong>XML-RPC</strong>: Disable the XML-RPC endpoint.</li>
<li><strong>API Authentication</strong>: Require authentication for all REST API requests.</li>
</ul>
<p>Manage passwords policy on the site:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Reset Password</strong>: Prevent users from resetting their passwords.</li>
<li><strong>Application Passwords</strong>: Disable Application Passwords and remove related UI elements.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Advanced</h4>
<p>For advanced users, you may configure these following features, but do it carefully:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Mailing</strong>: Prevent WordPress to send outgoing mail.</li>
<li><strong>Updates</strong>: Enable or disable updates for WordPress, plugins, and themes.</li>
<li><strong>Cron</strong>: Disable WP-Cron and use a real cron job.</li>
<li><strong>Heartbeat</strong>: Adjust or disable the Heartbeat API to reduce resource usage.</li>
</ul>


Feature Flipper

Disable Comments, Gutenberg, Emojis, and other features you don't need in WordPress

Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) vs Feature Flipper