PHP 5.6 and 7.0 End of Life
PHP, the open source programming and scripting language used by all websites built with WordPress, reached end of life (EOL) for versions 5.6 and 7.0 in December 2018. When PHP versions reach end of life, PHP no longer offers critical security support for them. The end of life process is standard within PHP release cycles, and, as your partner, we have been hard at work to ensure your websites are stable and secure on PHP 7.2.
WP Engine’s PHP 7.2 Upgrade Plan
We understand that managing the upgrade to a new PHP version can be complex and require your investment in additional development effort. In order to provide you with enough time to ensure compatibility, we implemented protective and preventative measures to extend PHP 5.6 and 7.0 availability on our platform until March 28, 2019.
For the security and stability of your websites, we are not able to accommodate PHP versions earlier than 7.2 past that date.
Ensuring PHP 7.2 Compatibility
If any of your websites have experienced issues following the upgrade to PHP 7.2, please explore the following options:
Ensure the rest of your website is up-to-date
Our first recommended step is to update all plugins, themes, and WordPress core to their latest versions. This ensures that any recent code changes made to ensure PHP 7.2 compatibility will be live on your website.
Please take advantage of your Staging and Development Environments to test these updates before making them live.
Identify potential problems through your error logs
WP Engine provides access to the Apache error logs through your User Portal. Check out our guide to understanding PHP error messages to help you identify potential compatibility issues.
Deactivate plugins and themes
If you believe the cause of your compatibility issues to be a particular plugin or theme, try deactivating that plugin or switching to a different theme to verify. This is also a useful step if you aren’t able to pinpoint the cause of a problem – oftentimes systematically deactivating plugins and themes can reveal the culprit.
If you’re unable to access your wp-admin dashboard due to the compatibility issues, there are other ways to deactivate your themes and plugins! You can find a walkthrough for deactivating via phpMyAdmin or SFTP on WP Beginner. Additionally, if you’re a user of SSH Gateway or the User Portal Advanced tab, you have additional options via WP-CLI.
Resolve incompatibilities with plugins and themes
If deactivating a theme or plugin solves your compatibility issues, here are a few options moving forward:
- If you aren’t reliant upon a particular plugin, you could remove it from your website or check out some alternative options in our Solution Center.
- If you aren’t reliant upon a particular theme, WP Engine offers many PHP 7.2-compatible themes on the Genesis framework. These themes are free with all plan types! Check out the options available to you through our StudioPress Themes list.
- If you do require a specific theme or plugin that you’ve found to be incompatible with PHP 7.2, we recommend reaching out to the associated developer or Support team.
- If you find that you need additional help making these decisions or custom code updates, we recommend reaching out to an experienced WordPress developer. Please review our list of Partners and the Codeable services for recommendations.