How does Flywheel deal with updates to the WordPress core?

By default, Flywheel automatically updates customer sites to the latest version of the WordPress core—although you may opt out of major version updates.

Maintaining a current and up-to-date core is one of the most important things you can do to keep your site free from malicious activity and malware, and Flywheel has you covered!

Because Flywheel handles updates for you, you cannot run updates from within the WordPress backend like you might on other hosts or on a local setup. Instead, you can check to see if you’re running the most recent version of WordPress by going to the “Advanced” tab for your site in the Flywheel dashboard:

You’ll know you’re good to go if you see the version in green.

Flywheel updates the WordPress core on the following schedule:

In the case of a security release, we install the release as soon as possible due to the often-critical nature of the fixes. You will receive an email when this update is complete. Again, due to the critical nature, we cannot defer these installations or allow you to remain on the previous version.

Major WordPress releases are rolled out roughly two weeks after their official release. As these are typically much more invasive and often involve breaking changes. We want to be sure to give users plenty of time to test and try out this version to ensure that it works.

When an updated version is available, we will send an email to let you know, and will also let you know on what date your site will be updated automatically.

If you’d like to manually upgrade your site during this period, you may do so by visiting the “Advanced” tab for your site in the Flywheel control panel:

Click the “Upgrade” button and your site will be queued for upgrade. This process typically takes a few minutes, during which time your site may be unavailable.

As with everything on Flywheel, if you have any questions or issues regarding automatic core upgrades, Flywheel support is here to help!