In December of this year, PHP 5.6 and 7.0 will stop receiving security updates. According to WordPress, these versions are used on 57.1% of WP sites. Accordingly, in a short time these resources will become less protected.
As vulnerabilities will stop closing, the use of outdated versions of PHP threatens sites with traffic loss and ranking problems. In addition to possible hacker attacks, there are also problems with the work of individual plugins and WordPress itself. Therefore, owners of these resources are encouraged to update PHP to the latest version as soon as possible.
Timing of termination of support
For PHP 5.6, security updates will stop coming out on December 31, 2018. PHP 7.0 support will be discontinued even earlier – December 3rd.
How to determine which PHP version is used?
The easiest way is to log into your hosting control panel and find the link to the section related to PHP. You can also use special online tools and plugins. For example, WordPress phpinfo () . After learning the current version of PHP, the plugin can be removed.
Another way is to contact the hosting provider’s support service and ask them to determine which version of PHP your site is using, as well as to request upgrade instructions.
How to upgrade PHP to the latest version
- Create a backup of your WordPress site . You can use the plugin UpDraftPlus .
- Check plugins compatibility . Make sure all your plugins have been updated to the latest version.
- If the plugin has not been updated for a long time, go to its page and check whether it is compatible with the latest version of PHP (7.2).
- If the plugin is incompatible, then replace it with another popular plugin with the same functionality. Using plugins incompatible with PHP can lead to security risks.
- Update PHP . Log into your hosting control panel, find the section on PHP and update the PHP version of your site to the latest. If you encounter difficulties, contact the hosting service provider.
