How can you disable the "smart" emoji suggestions (macOS Sonoma)

Ahhh! To whoever posted the screenshot, that worked perfectly! Thank you!

System Settings - Keyboard - Press "globe" key to - DO NOTHING

I would not have guessed that (as I don't use the "globe" key but use a keystroke combination.)

Thank you again whoever answered!

> You can actually disable this feature via feature flag.

>

> Open the terminal app, put in this command and reboot:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/UIKit.plist emoji_enhancements -dict-add Enabled -bool NO

@AllowTheDowngrade Amazing, thanks!

I too loathe this design decision. It also looks particularly horrible on web browsers (at least Brave):

I have found a workaround tho; if you hit the shortcut TWICE it will show the large, original picker.

Annoying but at least there is a way to get around it till Apple realizes they shipped something they shouldn't have

You can actually disable this feature via feature flag.

Open the terminal app, put in this command and reboot:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/UIKit.plist emoji_enhancements -dict-add Enabled -bool NO

(Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/16wzdk9/is_there_a_way_to_turn_off_the_new_emoji/)

I agree about how annoying this feature is, especially for me (a sloppy typist). Anyways, simply disable it in System Settings -> Keyboard. At least under macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) it works.

+1 for this. I detest the emoji suggestions. The main reason it is broken for me is that I often want to use an emoji that is expressive of an emotion or entire sentence at the end of the sentence, but the emoji picker only suggests emoji for the last word typed. If you do the Ctrl + CMD + space shortcut twice, the full picker comes up, but why should I have to add another step? 😠 This should be optional.

That is strange but not entirely unexpected in Apple software at times. The "predictive"emoji issue doesn't happen at all for me now after disabling the globe key function in Settings. I can choose a predictive emoji by clicking the emoji icon in the upper right corner of the compose message window. I never need to do that so I do not know how it is expected to behave.

Void23 wrote:

Dude apple has its ups and downs but why in the world should I have to go through a dumb process just to type :) instead of 😊. Like why apple?

Dude, I mean, for sure, this is a user-to-user forum. Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. But you can, like, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Agree this feature should be optional. I have found similar threads on Reddit and Stack Exchange, but no one has found the secret setting (if it exists) to turn this off.

I agree about how annoying this feature is, especially for me (a sloppy typist). Anyways, simply disable it in System Settings -> Keyboard. At least under macOS 14.4 (Sonoma) it works.

I just figured out that on the Mac, at least, when you get that contextual suggestion for an emoji, you can click the down arrow and it reverts to the search window for emojis.

Personally, I will wait for the 14.1 Beta to drop or maybe the 14.x to drop before I will get on my Soap Box and contact Apple.

Though, have Pulled the Trigger on Mail application frequently take my e-mail account ( iCloud ) Off-Line for not apparent reason

Using Fibre Optic connection and all other web services are work just fine

Really want a way to disable this! The suggestions are almost always wrong, where as before it would take you to the search box and you could just type what you wanted.

Current "forced" suggestions is very disorienting by comparison.

My frustration comes after initiating the "FREQUENTLY USED & FAVOURITES image.

To select the one I want, I have to double-click it, which is not a big deal, BUT trying to remove the suggestion box from the screen is a nightmare (for me).

The whole Mac interface is getting more WOKE and bloated with updates. I don't need ethnically appropriate emojis or animations & I wish there was a way to dumb it down.

Please remove this feature. It's janky and 20 steps backward in the wrong direction.

Every time I try to use an emoji it always fails. The wrong emojis pop up, and then when i try to show the full panel with another keystroke, the whole thing disappears.

The whole idea is to make us type emojis faster - not with extra clicks and buggy behaviors.

I'm not usually complaining about features, but this one is a strong contender for the most annoying award.