Safe WordPress auto-updates: keep updating, undo what breaks.
Pick a weekly window. Relvato updates your plugins one at a time, re-runs every monitor that was passing after each one, and rolls back and holds any update that breaks your checkout, forms or pages. Then it emails you what happened.
Updates you don't have to babysit.
Turning auto-updates off leaves known vulnerabilities open. Turning them on lets one bad release break checkout overnight. Relvato updates the way a careful developer would.
Your window
A day of the week, or every day, at a time in your own time zone. Nothing updates outside it.
One plugin at a time
Each update is installed on its own, so when something breaks Relvato knows exactly which plugin did it.
Every monitor re-runs
After each update, every monitor that was passing runs again: checkout, login, forms, pages, whatever you watch.
Rolled back and held
If one now fails, Relvato reinstalls the previous version and holds the bad one, so WordPress doesn't install it again on its own.
Backup first
Optionally, nothing updates unless a backup completed in the last few days, read from UpdraftPlus, BackWPup, WPvivid and other backup plugins.
A report every time
An email after each window, and the history in the site's settings: updated, rolled back, left for next time, and why.
From open to report, in four steps.
The same safe-change flow Relvato uses when you update a plugin from its dashboard, run on your schedule.
The window opens
At your time, Relvato asks the plugin which updates WordPress offers, leaves out the plugins you excluded and any version already held, and looks for a recent backup.
One update
It installs the first update, active plugins first. At most 10 per window, so a site that fell far behind catches up over a few weeks, not one night.
Re-run and decide
Every monitor that passed before runs again. All pass: the update stays. One fails: it's rolled back and held, and the window stops.
Report
You get an email listing each plugin, its versions and what happened. The same history appears in the site's update settings.
Clear about its limits.
Automatic means only what can be undone the same way.
What it does
- Plugin updates from WordPress.org, and premium plugins whose update WordPress can download
- Rolls back to the exact previous version and holds the bad one
- Waits for a recent backup when you ask it to
- Leaves out the plugins you list, and any version already held
- Stops the window at the first rollback, so one bad release can't pile onto another
What it leaves to you
- Theme and WordPress updates: they can't be rolled back the same way, so they stay yours
- More than 10 updates in one window: the rest wait for the next
- Premium plugins whose update needs a licence WordPress doesn't have
- Sites without the Relvato plugin
Where it fits.
Safe auto-updates build on the rollback and backup monitoring Relvato already has.
Questions about safe auto-updates
How is this different from WordPress's own auto-updates?
WordPress installs updates and moves on; if one breaks your checkout, you hear it from a customer. Relvato installs them one at a time in your window, re-runs your monitors after each, and rolls back and holds any update that breaks something.
What happens to the updates it didn't get to?
After a rollback the window stops, and the remaining updates wait for the next window. The same happens past 10 updates in one window.
Does it update themes or WordPress itself?
No. A theme or WordPress update can't be rolled back the way a plugin can, so those stay with you.
Which plan do I need?
Business or Agency, because the updates run on a schedule. Plugin rollback must be on in the site's settings: it's how Relvato undoes an update.
Can I keep some plugins out?
Yes. List them under “Never update these plugins” and Relvato leaves them alone, every window.
Keep your plugins current, without the 3 a.m. surprise.
Connect your WordPress site, turn on plugin rollback, and pick a window.