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Emojis are not a built-in feature in WordPress. If you want to add emojis to WordPress pages and comments, you won’t find them in your WordPress post editor or page builder. But, you can add emojis to WordPress fairly easily.
In general, there are two ways to add emojis to WordPress pages and comments. You can copy and paste them from an emoji library. Or, you can use a plugin to allow you and your visitors add emojis to pages, posts and comments.
Why Add Emojis?
If you use social media, you probably use emojis all the time. They make your posts a little more fun and expressive. WordPress will convert most of the popular keyboard emoticons into emojis, but you won’t find an emoji library in your editor, or an option to add them to your comments.
Being able to add emojis to your posts and comments can make your website more engaging.. Think about how often people use emojis on social media. People love them. Your visitors may love this feature because it allows them to add emojis to comments. How do you add them?
How to Add Emojis to WordPress Without a Plugin.
Plugins are convenient. You can find a WordPress plugin for just about everything, including adding emojis to your site. Adding a lot of plugins to your website can slow it down though. If you only plan to use emojis once in a while, or if you just don’t want to add another plugin, you can add emojis to your posts by copying and pasting them from an emoji library.
A few popular emoji libraries include Emojipedia, GetEmoji, and emojikeyboard.io. However, this can be inconvenient and doesn’t allow your visitors to use them automatically. In order for emojis to add emojis to posts and comments without having to copy and paste them, you need a plugin.
How to Add Emojis to WordPress Pages
There are a handful of plugins available that allow you to add emojis to pages. However, they only work with the classic WordPress editor. WordPress replaced the classic editor in 2018 with the Gutenberg editor. You can still use the classic editor. Simply install the Classic Editor plugin. It will allow you to revert back to the WordPress Classic editor, which displays the older page and post editor.
If you use any of the popular page builders like Elementor, Divi, or WP Bakery, you won’t be able to use a plugin to add emojis to your pages. You can add emojis to your pages by copying and pasting them from an emoji library.
How to Add Emojis to Posts and Comments
There are a few emoji WordPress plugins available. All of the free plugins work on the classic editor, but not on Gutenberg. These plugins add emoji reaction buttons to your WordPress post editor and also allow visitors to add emojis to their comments. Many WordPress users prefer the classic editor, so reverting back to the older version is not a big deal.
Emoji Plugins for WordPress
Native Emoji Native Emoji is compatible with the Classic Editor. This plugin allows you to add emojis to posts and comments. Once it’s activated you will see a button for emojis on your WordPress editor and comment box. It includes over 2,000 emojis. It works with any WordPress version 4.2 or higher. However, this plugin has not been updated in 3 years and was last tested on version 4.9.18
Remoji The Remoji plugin doesn’t add emojis to your post or page editor, but it does allow visitors to react to your posts with emojis. It’s compatible with WordPress version 4.0 or higher and has been tested up to version 5.8.1.
Algori Emojis for WordPress Gutenberg The Aglori plugin is available at Code Canyon. It is a premium WordPress plugin that works with the Gutenberg editor. It’s easy to install and comes with tons of emoji options. You can search for emojis by category and also change the size or skin color of the emojis.
Things to Consider Before Adding Emojis to Your WordPress Website
If you are thinking about installing a plugin to add emojis, you should keep a few things in mind. WordPress already converts most of the keyboard emoticons you would use into emojis. Most of the plugins were created for older versions of WordPress. WordPress added automatic conversion of emoticons to emojis in version 4.2.
For the most part, you shouldn’t need a plugin to add emojis to your posts or comments, unless you want to use special or unique emojis This may be a cool feature to add to your website, but with all the available copy and paste emojis, it may not be necessary.
Emojis Can Slow Down Your Site Speed
Interestingly, while some WordPress users are looking for ways to add emojis, many users choose to disable them. This is because WordPress emojis use additional resources and can slow down your site speed. In order to display emojis on your website, WordPress uses a java script file. This script is loaded every time you use the dashboard or a visitor loads your page, even if you don’t use or need the emoji feature. If this is not a feature you use, you might consider removing it. It may give your website a boost in site speed.
To disable emoticons simply download the Disable Emoticons plugin. Most browsers support emoticons and emojis so the extra code is generally unnecessary. The plugin just removes the extra code that WordPress included to make them display on older browsers.
