PHP 8.2 is now supported on WPhost!

PHP is the open-source scripting language that WordPress is built on. Keeping your site’s PHP version up-to-date allows your site to utilise all of PHP’s latest features and improvements, resulting in optimised security and speed.

At WPhost, we work hard to ensure our customers have access to the latest versions of PHP, and we typically make those versions available as soon as we’ve completed the necessary testing.

All new sites created on WPhost are provisioned running PHP 8.2 as the default.

How to update to PHP 8.2

The great news is that the latest WordPress version has the most compatibility with the latest PHP version. Making the switch to PHP 8.2 is easy — submit a ticket from your Client Area. Just let us know that you’d like to update to 8.2, and we’ll be happy to help!

We recommend that your active theme and all plugins have been updated before switching. WordPress developers have been hard at work to ensure compatibility with the latest version of PHP and the best experience will happen on the latest version of their work.

Planned PHP upgrade for sites running PHP 8.1

As a managed WordPress host, we’re here to make sure your sites are backed by the latest and greatest technologies. PHP is essential for having a high-performing and secure site, which is why starting in January 2024, we’ll be automatically upgrading all sites using PHP 8.1 to PHP 8.2. To take advantage of the benefits of PHP 8.2 sooner, simply open a ticket from your Client Area.

For your upgrade to go as smoothly as possible, we recommend ensuring all your plugins and themes are up to date. Need help updating your plugins? Check out our Managed Plugin Updates!

WPhost offers extended security support for PHP 7.4

While we prefer that all of our customers upgrade to the latest versions of WordPress and PHP, we also understand that doing so right now could lead to critical errors on their websites. That’s the last thing we want, but at the same time, WPhost has always worked hard to prevent our customers from using unsupported versions of PHP as it can open up their sites, and our platform, to security risks.

With that in mind, WPhost has invested in ongoing security support for PHP 7.4. This will allow all of our customers to stay on PHP 7.4 through 2024, while still keeping their sites and our platform secure.

While we haven’t determined a deadline for customers to stop using PHP 7.4, we believe additional time will afford them, the wider WordPress community, and individual plugin and theme developers with the time they need to resolve open incompatibilities.

What happens when PHP 7.4 reaches end of life?

If you haven’t switched by end of life, your sites will be automatically upgraded to 8.2. We highly recommend that you ensure your sites are 8.2 compatible by this time, as it may cause downtime while you correct any compatibility issues. It is always good practice to double check your code, themes and plugins are compatible with new PHP and WordPress versions. It is your responsibility if you find your WordPress theme is not 8.2 compatible come end of life.

PHP 8.3 on Enterprise Plans brings up to 52% speed boost

PHP 8.3 is available for all sites on Enterprise Plans. 8.3 packs several new features and improvements: Typed class constants, dynamic fetching of constants, a new JSON validation function, an easier way to generate random strings, deep cloning of read-only properties, and more. The improvements will help lead to quicker coding and fewer bugs to hunt.

Speed up your site by up to 52% with new PHP 8.3

On top of the new features and updates, this latest version is the fastest yet – bringing up to a 52% speed boost on Enterprise Plans. But hold up before you jump in: Check that your plugins and themes work well with the new version.

How do I check my site’s PHP version?

Since the release of WordPress 5.2, a new tool called “Site Health” is built into WordPress. Using Site Health, you can check the version of PHP your WordPress site is running.

• How do I check my site’s PHP version?

Timeline

20 July 2022: All new sites provisioned are running on PHP 8.1

4 August 2022: Existing customers invited to jump the queue and upgrade to PHP 8.1

15 August 2022: Newsletter inviting all customers to upgrade to PHP 8.1

30 September 2022: Launch of WordPress Staging Sites and invitation for all customers to run PHP 8.1 on a staging copy for testing before upgrading live site

19 October 2022: 4th reminder email sent to all customers detailing action required

20 October 2022: WPhost offers extended support for PHP 7.4

28 November 2022: Official end of life of PHP 7.4

6 June 2023: 5th reminder newsletter sent detailing action required

11 July 2023: All new sites provisioned are running on PHP 8.2

17 July 2023: Newsletter inviting all customers to upgrade to PHP 8.2

27 November 2023: Newsletter announcing planned PHP upgrade in January 2024 for sites running PHP 8.1. Clients advised that sites still running end-of-life PHP 7.4 may experience compatability issues with WordPress 6.4.2.

13 December 2023: Final newsletter of the year reminding of planned PHP upgrade in January 2024 for sites running PHP 8.1. Clients reminded that sites still running end-of-life PHP 7.4 may experience compatability issues with WordPress 6.4.2.

12 January 2024: All customers advised of planned upgrade for sites running PHP 8.1 starting 5 February 2024.

8 February 2024: PHP 8.3 available for all sites on Enterprise Plans.

10 February 2024: Sites using PHP 8.1 will be automatically upgraded to PHP 8.2 at 05:00am NZDT.