Imagine that your office is your Website created with WordPress, now imagine that every so often when you enter your office, there is a new desk, the walls are painted a different color, the seats have changed…
Sounds great doesn’t it? It’s like having a robot that works for you automatically.
The same thing I just described is possible on your website with WORDPRESS. In fact, you may not know it (now you do), since version 3.7 of WordPress they have automatic updates. Just like having your office clean, with everything new and up to date, in the same way you can control which WordPress updates will be automatic, and which will not.
What are WordPress automatic updates?
From time to time the WordPress developer community releases new versions that fix security or operating errors and publish them so that users can download them from the official site. WordPress currently has the option to automatically update to new versions, this It helps to always have the newest version but in some cases it can generate incompatibility errors with plugins or add-ons that need to be updated in the same way.
When to activate automatic updates?
As with many WordPress articles and questions, it is necessary to answer, my favorite word as a consultant comes: it depends.
If, for example, you are a design agency, and you have a website as an online business card, where you can find contact information and the services you offer, there is no problem: it is recommended to have automatic updates active.
On the other hand, if your business depends on your website (for example an online store or catalog) or it is a very custom-developed website, it is recommended not to have automatic updates activated.
Although like everything, this has its particular and very specific cases, where what I just told you may change:
- The design agency’s website has a plugin customized by a programmer, through which appointments with clients are managed.
- The online store mentioned is to sell a digital product (a book, a course, etc.) for which you have not used much more than embedded YouTube videos and the website is very automated in general.
Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but your decision depends on whether it is better for you to “forget about the problems and have WordPress solve them for you” (in terms of vulnerabilities) or to be up to date with the world of WordPress and do prior tests in a test environment every time you have to update the WordPress core, especially if you have custom plugins for most of your projects.
How to activate automatic updates?
To activate automatic updates in WordPress, you can do it manually (if you venture into PHP code) or automatically (with a plugin).
Although I recommend that you always have backup copies of your WordPress in case anything happens.
- Manual method in wp-config.php
As the title indicates, to activate automatic updates manually, simply add the following line of code to the wp-config.php file, which you will find in your WordPress installation folder.
But keep in mind that this line of code activates all updates, minor and major (we have already mentioned that starting with version 3.7 minor updates are activated by default, so you do not have to write anything to activate them).
The specific line of code, to activate, I repeat, all WordPress updates, minor and major, is:
And with this, you will ensure that you have them active.
- Using a Plugin
For those looking to use a plugin that does it for them, you can use Advance Automatic Updates, (Remember that the more plugins you use, the slower your website will be).
This plugin allows you to control in a very intuitive way the updates that are made to your website, in detail.
The plugin comes in English, so you can use Google Translate if you don’t speak this language.
Although the interface is quite intuitive, I recommend that you know very well what you activate and deactivate, as it affects your entire website in a very important way.
Personally, I think it is worth doing it from the code even if you are not very technical, in this case it is not very difficult (it is just copy and paste).
How to disable updates in WordPress?
To disable automatic updates, in case it suits you to avoid any errors, here is the code you have to add to wp-config.php:
Remember that this disables minor automatic WordPress updates; That is, it does not affect the updating of WordPress plugins, WordPress templates, etc.
If you simply want to disable all updates regarding the WordPress core (minor and major), the line to add is:
In the case of the plugin, it will be enough to “undo” the steps taken, deactivate it and uninstall it from our website.
Conclusion
If you’ve never worried about WordPress updates before, I sincerely hope this article has clarified the issue for you.
If you have a website for which you have used very personalized plugins or templates in terms of code, I recommend that you update WordPress and all its components, one by one, and manually.
If, on the other hand, you have a simple website, which you use simply as a mere online presence, in the vast majority of cases you can have automatic updates activated (the minor and the major ones).
The latter will make your website much safer against possible attacks, vulnerabilities in the plugins you use, and in general, make you feel calmer about the topic.