Setup Auto Updates In Softaculous
If you first installed WordPress using the Softaculous auto-installer, the simplest solution to automatically update WordPress and your plugins/themes is included inside Softaculous. If you did not choose these parameters during installation, you may set them through cPanel > WordPress (under Softaculous Apps Installer)
Click on ▼, on the right hand side, under the Installations section. Now, enable Auto Update WordPress Plugins & Auto Update WordPress Themes. After this is accomplished, Softaculous will automatically keep your WordPress website, plugins, and themes updated.
Enable Auto Updates Manually
If you moved WordPress from another web host to Softaculous, you likely do not have access to this option. Additionally, people who have manually installed WordPress may alter their configuration files to enable automatic updates.
Enable Core File Updates for WordPress
To allow automatic updates of the WordPress core files, you must add the following piece of code to your wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true );
You can simply view this file by heading to the location of your wp-config.php file using cPanel -> File Manager.
Enable Updates for WordPress Plugins and Themes
To allow your themes and plugins to update automatically, you must add the following two lines of code to the functions.php file in your current theme's folder:
add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_true' );
add_filter( 'auto_update_theme', '__return_true' );
If your theme does not have a functions.php file, you may easily add one. You may also add many more variables to the lines of code shown above. The WordPress Codex has an article that describes them in great depth. If you choose this path, I strongly advise you to read it.
Enable Auto Update Plugins With A Plugin
While we are not fans of utilising many "plugins" (because to speed and security issues), there is a plugin you can use to automatically update your plugins. Simply install the Automatic Plugin Updates plugin (then wait). The primary benefit of utilising this is the ability to pick plugins to "ignore" if you do not want them to auto-update. This is useful when utilising extensively customised plugins for your WordPress website.
Rollback WordPress Plugin Updates
A problem we've encountered (with the Hostingli blog) is an upgraded plugin that causes the whole website to crash. This occurs when the plugin update is incompatible with your WordPress core files or PHP settings. Thankfully, there is an excellent plugin that allows you to automatically "rollback" to the previous version. This is known as WP Rollback and is available for free download and installation. You shouldn't keep a plugin on an outdated version for a lengthy period of time, therefore we suggest contacting the plugin developer to describe your configuration so they can issue a remedy.
Should You Automatically Update WordPress?
If you go in to your WordPress site at least five times each week, you can probably update everything manually. However, if you only intend to check in a few times each year, particularly if you have a huge firm, we highly advocate upgrading automatically. It is rather disheartening to watch clients get upset with us when the issue was created by a lack of updates. Our malware scanner may assist you after your website has been infected, but prevention is always preferable.
