How to update plugins safely
Learn how to update WordPress plugins safely, including what to do before you update and how to recover if something goes wrong.
Keeping plugins updated is one of the most important things you can do for your site's security and stability. But updating without preparation can occasionally cause problems. This guide walks you through doing it safely.
Quick summary
Before updating: take a backup. Then go to Dashboard → Updates or Plugins → Installed Plugins, select the plugins to update, and click Update. If something breaks, restore the backup or deactivate the new plugin version.
What you'll need
Beginner 10 minutes- Administrator access to your WordPress site
- An up-to-date backup of your site (covered below)
On a managed care plan?
If Chykalophia manages your site, we handle plugin updates as part of your care plan — usually tested on a staging site first. You may not need to do this yourself. Check with us if you're unsure.
Step 1: Take a backup first
Never update plugins on a live site without a backup. If an update causes a problem, a backup lets you restore everything to how it was in minutes.
If your host (Flywheel, WP Engine, Kinsta) provides automatic daily backups, make sure one is recent. You can also trigger a manual backup through your hosting dashboard or backup plugin. See How WordPress backups work for full details.
Step 2: Check what needs updating
Go to Dashboard → Updates in your WordPress sidebar. This page shows all available updates — for WordPress core, plugins, and themes — in one place.
Review the list. You'll see each plugin's name and the version it's updating to. For critical plugins (your page builder, your store, your SEO plugin), it's worth a quick search to see if other users have reported problems with the new version.
Step 3: Update the plugins
On the Dashboard → Updates page, scroll to the Plugins section. Check the box next to "Select All" and click Update Plugins. WordPress updates them in sequence.
This is fine for minor version updates (e.g. 2.3.1 → 2.3.2). For large version jumps (e.g. 2.x → 3.x), updating one at a time is safer.
Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins. You'll see an "Update available" notice under each outdated plugin. Click Update now under each one individually.
After each update, quickly check your site's homepage and any key pages to make sure everything looks right before moving to the next one. This makes it easier to identify which plugin caused a problem, if one occurs.
Good practice
After updating, visit your site's homepage, a key content page, and (if you have one) your store or booking page. A quick visual check takes 60 seconds and catches most issues immediately.
What to do if something breaks
Don't panic. Problems after plugin updates are fixable.
Identify which plugin caused the issue. If you updated one at a time, you'll know immediately. If you updated all at once, you'll need to deactivate plugins one by one until the site looks right.
Deactivate the problem plugin. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins, find the plugin, and click Deactivate. This instantly removes its effects without deleting anything.
Check if the site is back to normal. If yes, the plugin update was the cause.
Contact us or the plugin developer. Report the issue. In the meantime, the plugin will stay deactivated until a fix is available.
If the site is completely broken and you can't access the dashboard, see Fixing the "white screen" error — or contact us and we'll restore from backup.
How often should you update?
We recommend updating plugins at least once a month. Security-related updates should be applied as soon as possible. If you're on our care plan, we monitor for critical updates and apply them promptly.
Common questions
Related guides
- What are plugins?
- Deactivating vs deleting plugins
- How WordPress backups work
- WordPress updates explained
- What to do before a big update
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