diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/flags.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/flags.js.handlebars
index 77e830f40cf..fdd1b627a41 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/flags.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/admin/templates/flags.js.handlebars
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
               <td class='excerpt'>
                 <h3>
                   {{#if flaggedPost.topic.isPrivateMessage}}
-                    <span class="private-message-glyph">{{icon envelope}}</span>
+                    <span class="private-message-glyph">{{fa-icon envelope}}</span>
                   {{/if}}
                   {{topic-status topic=flaggedPost.topic}}
                   <a href='{{unbound flaggedPost.url}}'>{{flaggedPost.topic.title}}</a>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/application_helpers.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/application_helpers.js
index f34ab5cb2c6..4de1ceea777 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/application_helpers.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/application_helpers.js
@@ -199,22 +199,3 @@ Handlebars.registerHelper('link-domain', function(property, options) {
     }
   }
 });
-
-/**
-  Renders a font-awesome icon with an optional i18n string as hidden text for
-  screen readers.
-
-  @method icon
-  @for Handlebars
-**/
-Handlebars.registerHelper('icon', function(icon, options) {
-  var labelKey, html;
-  if (options.hash) { labelKey = options.hash.label; }
-  html = "<i class='fa fa-" + icon + "'";
-  if (labelKey) { html += " aria-hidden='true'"; }
-  html += "></i>";
-  if (labelKey) {
-    html += "<span class='sr-only'>" + I18n.t(labelKey) + "</span>";
-  }
-  return new safe(html);
-});
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/category-link.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/category-link.js.es6
index 7a7c73a2dd4..f206a4a9847 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/category-link.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/category-link.js.es6
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { categoryLinkHTML } from 'discourse/lib/html-builder';
 
-export default Handlebars.registerHelper('category-link', function(property, options) {
+Handlebars.registerHelper('category-link', function(property, options) {
   return categoryLinkHTML(Ember.Handlebars.get(this, property, options), options);
 });
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/fa-icon.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/fa-icon.js.es6
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..25ac7aebce7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/fa-icon.js.es6
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Handlebars.registerHelper('fa-icon', function(icon, options) {
+  var labelKey;
+  if (options.hash) { labelKey = options.hash.label; }
+
+  var html = "<i class='fa fa-" + icon + "'";
+  if (labelKey) { html += " aria-hidden='true'"; }
+  html += "></i>";
+  if (labelKey) {
+    html += "<span class='sr-only'>" + I18n.t(labelKey) + "</span>";
+  }
+  return new Handlebars.SafeString(html);
+});
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-text.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-text.js.es6
index cfa0f8d9655..fb1c18be7a5 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-text.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-text.js.es6
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-export default Handlebars.registerHelper('shorten-text', function(property, options) {
+Handlebars.registerHelper('shorten-text', function(property, options) {
   return Ember.Handlebars.get(this, property, options).substring(0,35);
 });
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-url.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-url.js.es6
index 77744acbb4d..9548f47c459 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-url.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/shorten-url.js.es6
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-export default Handlebars.registerHelper('shorten-url', function(property, options) {
+Handlebars.registerHelper('shorten-url', function(property, options) {
   var url = Ember.Handlebars.get(this, property, options),
       matches = url.match(/\//g);
 
@@ -9,4 +9,3 @@ export default Handlebars.registerHelper('shorten-url', function(property, optio
   url = url.replace(/^www\./, '');
   return url.substring(0, 80);
 });
-
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/topic-link.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/topic-link.js.es6
index f4264647c76..fcbeaeb350a 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/topic-link.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/helpers/topic-link.js.es6
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-export default Handlebars.registerHelper('topic-link', function(property, options) {
+Handlebars.registerHelper('topic-link', function(property, options) {
   var topic = Ember.Handlebars.get(this, property, options),
       title = topic.get('fancy_title');
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/deprecations.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/deprecations.js.es6
index 4227e2f62ce..e13f63c9226 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/deprecations.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/initializers/deprecations.js.es6
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ var deprecatedViewHelpers = {
   'discourse-activity-filter': 'activity-filter'
 };
 
+var renamedHelpers = {
+  icon: "fa-icon"
+};
+
 export default {
   name: 'deprecations',
   initialize: function(container) {
@@ -24,5 +28,14 @@ export default {
         return Ember.Handlebars.helpers.view.call(this, helper, options);
       });
     });
+
+    Ember.keys(renamedHelpers).forEach(function(old) {
+      var newName = renamedHelpers[old];
+      Ember.Handlebars.registerHelper(old, function() {
+        Em.warn("The `" + old +"` helper is deprecated. Use `" + newName + "` instead.");
+        var newHelper = container.lookupFactory('helper:' + newName);
+        return newHelper.apply(this, Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments));
+      });
+    });
   }
 };
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/header.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/header.js.handlebars
index 17986977452..71e4ad35791 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/header.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/header.js.handlebars
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
           {{/if}}
           <h1>
             {{#if showPrivateMessageGlyph}}
-              <span class="private-message-glyph">{{icon envelope}}</span>
+              <span class="private-message-glyph">{{fa-icon envelope}}</span>
             {{/if}}
             {{#if topic.category.parentCategory}}
               {{bound-category-link topic.category.parentCategory}}
@@ -40,14 +40,14 @@
         </button>
         {{/if}}
         <button {{action showLogin}} class='btn btn-primary btn-small login-button'>
-          {{icon user}} {{i18n log_in}}
+          {{fa-icon user}} {{i18n log_in}}
         </button>
       {{/unless}}
       <ul class='icons clearfix' role='navigation'>
         {{#if currentUser}}
           <li class='notifications'>
             <a class='icon' href="#" {{action showNotifications target="view"}} data-notifications="notifications-dropdown" id='user-notifications' title='{{i18n notifications.title}}'>
-              {{icon comment label="notifications.title"}}
+              {{fa-icon comment label="notifications.title"}}
             </a>
             {{#if currentUser.unread_notifications}}
               <a href='#' class='badge-notification unread-notifications'>{{currentUser.unread_notifications}}</a>
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
         <li>
           {{#if loginRequired}}
             <a id='search-button' class='icon expand' href='#' aria-hidden="true" {{action showLogin}}>
-              {{icon search}}
+              {{fa-icon search}}
             </a>
           {{else}}
             <a id='search-button'
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
                href='#'
                data-dropdown="search-dropdown"
                title='{{i18n search.title}}'>
-               {{icon search label="search.title"}}
+               {{fa-icon search label="search.title"}}
             </a>
           {{/if}}
         </li>
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
                aria-hidden="true"
                id="site-map"
                {{action showLogin}}>
-               {{icon bars}}
+               {{fa-icon bars}}
             </a>
           {{else}}
             <a class='icon'
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@
                href="#"
                title='{{i18n site_map}}'
                id="site-map">
-               {{icon bars label="site_map"}}
+               {{fa-icon bars label="site_map"}}
             </a>
           {{/if}}
           {{#if currentUser.site_flagged_posts_count}}
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/topic.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/topic.js.handlebars
index ecf75806055..c459749ea0c 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/topic.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/topic.js.handlebars
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
           {{#if editingTopic}}
             {{#if isPrivateMessage}}
-              <span class="private-message-glyph">{{icon envelope}}</span>
+              <span class="private-message-glyph">{{fa-icon envelope}}</span>
             {{else}}
               {{category-chooser valueAttribute="id" value=newCategoryId source=category_id}}
             {{/if}}