WordPress loads emoji JavaScript on every page. Here is why you should stop it.
WordPress adds ~10KB of emoji detection JavaScript to every single page — even if you never use emojis. Here is what it does, why it exists, and why removing it is safe in 2026.
Open any WordPress site and view source. You will find a block of inline JavaScript and inline CSS dedicated to emoji detection. On every page. For every visitor. Whether you use emojis or not.
Why it exists
WordPress added emoji support scripts in version 4.2 (2015) to ensure emojis rendered correctly on older browsers like IE 10 and Android 4.3. The script detects whether the browser can render emojis natively and loads a polyfill if not.
Why you do not need it anymore
It is 2026. Every browser shipped in the last eight years renders emojis natively. The script exists for browsers that no longer exist. On a modern business or agency site, the detection code is dead weight: an inline script that every page carries and every browser runs, only to find that nothing needs fixing.
What you gain by removing it
A shorter page head and one less script to run on every load. It is small on its own, but it adds up with other head cleanup: remove the emoji code, the RSD link, the WLW manifest link and the shortlink tag, and your page head gets noticeably leaner.
Ovanap Admin Toolkit has a separate switch for each of these, and the Apply safe defaults button turns on the safe ones in one click. All 10 performance features, emoji removal included, are free. Install, scan, switch on, done.