Who I have the same questioned this topic

How do I disable auto-insertion of emojis when I type ":)"?  It does this whether the 'Smart Emojis' option is enabled or disabled.  I've tried different keyboards, as well, but nothing fixes it.  Only Verizon Messages+ does this, not other messaging apps.  I want to continue using Verizon Messages+ because of its other nice features, but this is a dealbreaker.  The auto-inserted emoji are grotesque.