Can I opt out of WordPress core version updates?

We’ll always run minor security updates automatically on Flywheel, but you can opt out of major version updates on a site-by-site basis if you like.

By default, Flywheel will always keep your WordPress core version up-to-date, as recommended by WordPress.org. We do often take a little bit of time to evaluate each release (particularly with major version releases) just to make sure things go smoothly when updating, but we always roll out WordPress updates automatically soon after they’re released. See this help guide if you’d like a little more information on how we handle automatic upgrades.

This is great, especially when WordPress releases minor updates and patches for security or performance (for example, version 4.7.2 to 4.7.3). But some users prefer a little more control over major version updates (like 4.6 to 4.7).

If you feel the same way and would rather make major version changes on a site manually, just head to the “advanced” tab of the site’s Flywheel dashboard. Hover over the ellipsis icon next to the WordPress version number, and a dropdown menu will appear. Select “Manage Updates” from that menu:

From here, you can choose to continue allowing Flywheel to make all WordPress core version updates on the site as soon after they become available (the default setting); or to opt out of major version releases and only have Flywheel automatically update the site when minor upgrades are available, by selecting “Minor updates only.”

Just click the “Submit” button once you’ve made your selection.

If you’ve chosen to opt out of major version releases for a site, you’ll see a message in the “advanced” tab of the site’s Flywheel dashboard saying “Major updates disabled”:

Any site with major updates disabled will be left out of batch WordPress major core version updates, and will remain on its current major version, only receiving security updates.