Roll back a WordPress plugin update that broke your site

When the rollback is offered

The run has to have failed, and the change that triggered it — shown under “What changed” — has to be a plugin update with both versions known. The run then shows “Relvato can fix this” with “Roll back <plugin> to <version>”. Click “Apply fix on my site”, then “Yes, apply”: Relvato reinstalls the version and re-runs the check.

If several plugins updated at once, Relvato only offers a rollback when the error itself names one of them — for example a PHP error in that plugin's files. It never guesses between them.

The hold: why the update doesn't come straight back

WordPress would normally offer the update again at once, and an automatic update would reinstall it within hours. So the rollback also holds the bad version back. WordPress's auto-updater skips it, and any update that goes through WordPress — a person clicking Update, WP-CLI, ManageWP, a host's update tool — is refused with a message saying why.

The hold is on that exact version. When the author releases a newer one, it installs normally and Relvato checks it like any other update. The Plugins screen shows the hold on the plugin's row, and the run has a “Release the hold on <version>” button for when you want that version back.

When Relvato won't roll back

Relvato only rolls back plugins from wordpress.org, where every earlier version is kept — and only when your copy matches wordpress.org's files exactly, so a paid plugin that shares a name, or a plugin someone edited on the site, is never overwritten.

WooCommerce isn't rolled back once it has upgraded its database past the version you'd go back to, because older WooCommerce code on a newer database isn't supported. Restore your host's backup instead. Relvato also never rolls itself back.

Why WordPress core isn't rolled back

A major WordPress update migrates the database, and WordPress has no way to take that back. A minor one is mostly security fixes, and WordPress would reinstall it automatically within hours anyway. When a check breaks after a core update, the cause is almost always a plugin or theme that doesn't work with the new version — roll that back instead.

Turn rollback off for a site

Rollback is on for every WordPress site unless you switch it off. Open the site's Settings → Plugin updates and untick “Roll back plugin updates that break a check”. Relvato then never reinstalls an earlier plugin version on that site. A failed run still says which update most likely broke it, but its “Apply fix on my site” button is disabled and explains why.

With rollback off, Relvato also stops offering to update a vulnerable plugin for you, because it couldn't undo that update if a check stopped passing. Deactivating the plugin and verifying is still offered, since undoing that only means reactivating it. Versions already held back stay held. The same settings page lists them, each with a “Release” button.