How to Set Up Automatic Updates for WordPress Safely in 2025

WordPress is a powerful and flexible content management system that powers over 45% of websites globally. While it’s user-friendly, one of the critical aspects of maintaining a WordPress site is keeping it up-to-date. Automatic updates can simplify this process, ensuring your website stays secure and functions optimally. However, if not configured properly, automatic updates can sometimes cause issues with plugins, themes, or custom code.

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about setting up automatic updates for WordPress safely, including best practices, code snippets, and step-by-step instructions.

Why Automatic Updates Are Important for WordPress

1. Security: WordPress sites are frequent targets for hackers. Regular updates patch vulnerabilities and protect your website from exploits.

2. Performance: Updates often include performance improvements and bug fixes, ensuring your site runs smoothly.

3. Compatibility: Keeping themes, plugins, and WordPress core updated ensures better compatibility and fewer conflicts.

4. Time-Saving: Automatic updates reduce manual maintenance, freeing up time for other tasks.

While automatic updates are useful, blindly enabling them can sometimes break your website. This is why understanding the safest way to implement them is essential.

Understanding WordPress Update Types

WordPress has several types of updates:

1. Core Updates

   • Major Updates: Feature-rich updates (e.g., WordPress 6.0 → 6.1).

   • Minor Updates: Security and maintenance updates (e.g., 6.1.1 → 6.1.2).

2. Plugin Updates

   • Plugin developers release updates for security, bug fixes, and new features.

3. Theme Updates

   • Theme developers release updates for compatibility and design improvements.

4. Translation Updates

   • Updates to language files for multilingual sites.

By default, WordPress automatically installs minor core updates but leaves major updates, plugins, and themes for manual updates unless configured.

Step 1: Backup Your WordPress Website

Before enabling automatic updates, always create a full backup. This ensures that if anything goes wrong, you can restore your website without losing data. If you ever need to recover your site after installing a faulty update or plugin, follow the detailed guide on how to restore a WordPress site from backup manually.

Recommended Backup Methods:

• Use plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy.

• Manual backup using cPanel or phpMyAdmin.

Always test your backup by restoring it to a staging environment to ensure it works.

Step 2: Enable Automatic Updates for WordPress Core

Enable All Core Updates

To enable automatic updates for all WordPress core releases, add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

• true enables all core updates (major and minor).

• minor enables only minor updates (default behavior).

• false disables all automatic updates.

Enable Only Minor Updates (Recommended for Safety)

This is safer for beginners, as minor updates are less likely to break your site.

Step 3: Enable Automatic Plugin Updates

WordPress 5.5+ allows enabling automatic plugin updates from the admin dashboard.

Steps:

1. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.

2. Click Enable auto-updates for each plugin you want to update automatically.

Enable via Code:

This code in your functions.php file will automatically update all plugins.

Step 4: Enable Automatic Theme Updates

Similarly, WordPress allows theme auto-updates.

Steps:

1. Go to Appearance → Themes.

2. Click Enable auto-updates for desired themes.

Enable via Code:

This ensures all your themes stay up-to-date.

Step 5: Enable Automatic Translation Updates

Translation updates keep your multilingual site functional and up-to-date.

Step 6: Configure Notifications

Automatic updates can happen silently, but it’s a good idea to receive notifications.

This ensures you know when updates occur and can monitor for issues.

Step 7: Use a Staging Environment

Even with automatic updates enabled, testing major updates on a staging site first is best. This prevents unexpected downtime or conflicts on the live site.

Recommended Plugins for Staging:

• WP Staging

• Duplicator

• BlogVault

Step 8: Monitor Your Website After Updates

Automatic updates are convenient, but monitoring your site ensures everything works correctly.

Checklist After Updates:

1. Check the homepage and core pages.

2. Test forms, checkout, and login pages.

3. Verify plugin and theme functionality.

4. Check error logs for issues.

If something breaks, restore from backup immediately.

Step 9: Best Practices for Safe Automatic Updates

To ensure your WordPress data is always safe and automatically backed up to the cloud, you can follow the step‑by‑step guide on how to back up WordPress to Google Drive automatically.

1. Always backup before updates.

2. Use a child theme to prevent theme updates from overwriting customizations.

3. Enable automatic updates only for trusted plugins and themes. WordPress is a powerful platform, but it’s also a common target for attackers. Without proper protection, your site can be vulnerable to malware, brute force attacks, and other threats. To safeguard your site effectively, make sure to install one of the best WordPress security plugins available today — these tools will help block malicious activity, strengthen authentication, and monitor for suspicious behavior.

4. Monitor website performance and errors regularly.

5. Use a staging site for major updates and plugin conflicts.

By following these practices, you can enjoy the convenience of automatic updates without risking downtime or data loss.

Step 10: Troubleshooting Common Issues

• White Screen of Death after Update: Restore backup, disable plugins, and check PHP version.

• Plugin/Theme Conflicts: Disable auto-update for conflicting plugins.

• Failed Automatic Updates: Ensure proper file permissions and server configuration.

One of the most common issues after a WordPress update is the white screen of death. For a detailed guide to fix this issue, see the complete guide on fixing WordPress white screen issues after updates.

If you encounter any issues during automatic updates or face critical errors like a site going down, you can get professional help instantly by hiring get emergency WordPress support.

FAQs About WordPress Automatic Updates

1. Is it safe to enable automatic updates for WordPress?
Yes, if you follow best practices like regular backups, using a staging site, and monitoring your website. Minor updates are generally safe to enable automatically.

2. Can automatic updates break my website?
Yes, major updates or plugin/theme updates can sometimes cause conflicts. Always test on a staging environment first.

3. How can I disable automatic updates if needed?
You can disable automatic updates via wp-config.php or filters in functions.php:

4. Do automatic updates include plugin and theme updates?
By default, WordPress only updates minor core updates automatically. Plugins and themes need to be enabled individually.

5. How do I get notified when automatic updates occur?
WordPress can send admin email notifications using the auto_core_update_send_email filter as shown above.

Conclusion

Setting up automatic updates for WordPress safely is crucial for keeping your website secure, fast, and compatible. By combining automatic updates with regular backups, a staging environment, and monitoring, you can enjoy a hassle-free WordPress experience.

Automatic updates are no longer just a convenience—they are a necessity for maintaining a secure and efficient website. Implement the steps outlined in this guide, and your WordPress site will remain robust, updated, and protected against potential threats.