By default, WordPress automatically converts text smileys to graphic images. For example, when you type ;-) in your post you see 😉 when you preview or publish your post. Now, you want to disable this feature and would like to show only text. Here are two easy methods to disable these emoticons in wordpress.

Method #1: Using WordPress Filter

Assuming you have active child theme, you can add one line of code to prevent emojis to display on the frontend.

• Go to your active theme directory and look for functions.php file.
• Open it and add the following code at bottom of file.
  /*disable smilies*/
add_filter( 'option_use_smilies', '__return_false' );
• Save the file and that’s it. Now, reload the page with emojis.

Method #2: Using WordPress Plugin

If you don’t feel comfortable editing your active theme’s functions.php file. You can use this plugin called “Keep Emoticons as Text” to easily remove emojis and display only text on your website pages.
For this:

• From your wordpress dashboard, navigate to Plugin > Add New menu.
• Search for: “Keep Emoticons as Text”. This plugin is developed by Jaime Lerner – the Geek Goddess.
  
• Install and activate the plugin.

This plugin does not offer settings or options; it works out-of-the-box and the Emoji should now be completely disabled.

Video Tutorial

Here is a video tutorial for you too!

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed this article.

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