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How WordPress Auto-Updates Work and How to Control Them

ajith July 17, 2025

Keeping your WordPress website updated is essential for security, stability, and performance. Fortunately, WordPress introduced an auto-update feature to make this easier. However, as helpful as it is, automatic updates can sometimes cause unexpected problems especially if you’re not aware of how they work or how to manage them.

In this article, we’ll break down how WordPress auto-updates function, what they update, and how you as a site owner or hosting client can take control of these updates for safer site management.

What Are WordPress Auto-Updates?

WordPress auto-updates are a built-in system that automatically installs certain updates to your site without any manual input.

Introduced in WordPress 3.7 (2013), auto-updates were originally limited to minor core updates (e.g., security and maintenance releases). Starting with WordPress 5.5, site owners also gained the ability to enable auto-updates for plugins and themes through the admin dashboard.

Auto-updates aim to reduce the number of websites running outdated or vulnerable versions of WordPress core, plugins, or themes.

What Exactly Gets Auto-Updated?

Here’s what WordPress can auto-update:

Component Auto-Update By Default Can Be Controlled?
WordPress Core (minor versions) ✅ Yes Yes (via config or plugin)
WordPress Core (major versions) ❌ No Yes (can be enabled manually)
Plugins ❌ No (until 5.5+) Yes (dashboard toggle or code)
Themes ❌ No (until 5.5+) Yes (dashboard toggle or code)
Translation Files ✅ Yes Not usually necessary to control

Why Auto-Updates Matter

Auto-updates help prevent common vulnerabilities that hackers exploit. A huge number of WordPress site attacks happen because of outdated plugins or themes. With auto-updates:

  • You reduce the risk of being hacked.

  • You stay compliant with good security practices.

  • You spend less time manually updating each component.

However, there are trade-offs…

The Risks of Auto-Updates

Auto-updates aren’t always perfect. There are situations where an update may:

  • Break your site due to incompatibility with other plugins or themes.

  • Cause layout issues if the theme update changes styling or structure.

  • Interrupt custom code, especially if you’ve modified plugin or theme files directly.

For business-critical websites, blindly allowing all updates can be risky. This is why many hosting clients choose to monitor, review, or schedule updates manually or with more control.

How to Control WordPress Auto-Updates

Controlling auto-updates in WordPress can be done in several ways from the dashboard, to plugins, to editing configuration files.

1. Controlling Auto-Updates from the Dashboard (since WordPress 5.5)

You can enable/disable plugin and theme auto-updates individually:

  • Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins

  • Click “Enable auto-updates” next to each plugin you want to keep updated.

  • For themes, go to Appearance > Themes, click the theme, then Enable auto-updates.

This method is great for clients who prefer GUI-based controls.

2. Using a Plugin to Manage Auto-Updates

Several plugins allow finer control over what gets updated and when. Popular choices include:

  • Easy Updates Manager

  • WP Auto Updater

  • ManageWP (for multisite or multiple websites)

These plugins let you schedule updates, create logs, exclude specific plugins/themes, and get notifications.

3. Using wp-config.php to Control Core Updates

You can control core updates through the wp-config.php file:

// Disable all core updates
define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, false );

// Enable only minor core updates (default behavior)
define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, ‘minor’ );

// Enable all core updates (including major)
define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, true );

Always create a backup before editing core files.

4. Disabling Plugin/Theme Auto-Updates via Code (for developers)

If you want to prevent certain plugins or themes from auto-updating, add this to your theme’s functions.php:

// Disable all plugin auto-updates
add_filter( ‘auto_update_plugin’, ‘__return_false’ );

// Disable all theme auto-updates
add_filter( ‘auto_update_theme’, ‘__return_false’ );

This is a safe method for developers or site admins who want to completely control updates.

Best Practices for Managing Auto-Updates

  • Always take backups before enabling full auto-updates.

  • Test updates on a staging site before pushing to a live environment (especially for WooCommerce or complex sites).

  • Review update logs or use update notification plugins to stay informed.

  • Only enable auto-updates for trusted plugins/themes that are regularly maintained.

  • Avoid modifying plugin or theme core files, as these will be overwritten on updates.

Final Thoughts

Auto-updates in WordPress are a powerful feature but they work best when you understand and control them. For most site owners, enabling auto-updates for trusted plugins and keeping core updates on “minor only” is a safe balance.

If you manage a business website or client site, it’s crucial to monitor the update process and have a rollback or backup plan in place. Updates bring security, but control brings reliability.