Clarification on Retired Themes

  • Unknown's avatar
    jomzojeda · Member ·

    I’m thinking of changing my site’s theme. However, I found out that the theme I am currently using is retired.

    I have read in some posts here (which are dated some months back) that a retired theme is still usable?

    Does this mean that even if I activate another theme, I would still be able to activate my old, retired theme later?

    I’m asking because if I am not able to find a theme that I like as of the moment, I should be able to at least revert to the old (though retired theme).

    I don’t want to risk just changing to another theme, not find something that I like, and get stuck with it because the old theme that I was using is no longer available.

    Thanks.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    Hi there, much depends on whether your retired theme is a free or Premium theme.

    Firstly, you can preview any theme in the Customizer without changing your current theme. However, if you enable a new theme, a retired Premium theme cannot be reactivated. Retired free themes should still be available to activate in your site’s WP Admin Themes Dashboard at
    https://maurusrealm.wordpress.com/wp-admin/themes.php

    Let us know if you have any other question about this.

  • Unknown's avatar
    musicdoc1 · Member ·

    @justjennifer,

    Has the policy changed in the last 6 months or so regarding retired free themes? The last word I’ve heard in this regard is that retired free themes may be activated only on sites created before the theme is retired. See the following relevant threads:

    1. In the Transfer site with retired theme… topic of the forums help site (@jomzojeda, you may not be able to access this private site), @kathrynwp said on 18 August 2017:

    Free themes – you can activate any retired free theme on a site created before the theme was retired, via WP Admin. (It doesn’t matter if the site ever had that theme active or not.)

    Premium themes – once you switch away from a retired premium theme, you cannot get it back, even if the site was created before the theme was retired.

    2. New Blog – Retired Theme, 19 February 2018


    @kathrynwp     said:

    Access to retired themes is based on blog ID. Since your site is newly created, it has a new blog ID, and there isn’t a way to access retired themes on it, since it’s treated as a new site, regardless of the URL.

    3. The terrible choices left now with themes, 21-24 August 2016
    4. Can I Use “Retired” Themes, 5 March 2013 — See especially the following info provided by @justpi:

    Whether the themes are still available or not doesn’t have to do with whether you had previously used them or not, it has to do with when the blog was created: retired means no longer available in newly created blogs, but still available in blogs created before the theme became retired.

    and the conversation between @justpi and staff member staff-blorbo.

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    Hey @musicdoc1 – to the best of my knowledge, that hasn’t changed. A site cannot activate a theme that was retired prior to it being registered. If you register a new site today, the number of themes available in WP Admin>Themes and Calypso>Themes is the same; 288 free and Premium themes.

    In this case, the original poster is currently using Modularity Lite on their above site.

  • Unknown's avatar
    musicdoc1 · Member ·

    Hey @justjennifer,

    The reason I asked, and specified the conditions in which a retired theme would be available, is because you said above:

    Retired free themes should still be available to activate in your site’s WP Admin Themes Dashboard at…[the member’s wp-admin themes page]

    That’s simply not unconditionally true. It’s only true where the date of creation of the site antedates the date of retirement of a theme.

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    Hello again, yes, my answer was specific to this user’s circumstances and not a general answer.

  • Unknown's avatar
    musicdoc1 · Member ·

    You’re right. I hadn’t read the OP carefully. Perhaps I focused on this statement:

    I have read in some posts here (which are dated some months back) that a retired theme is still usable?

    Guess I thought they might be considering using a retired theme on a new site.

  • Unknown's avatar
    jomzojeda · Member ·

    Hi there, much depends on whether your retired theme is a free or Premium theme.

    Firstly, you can preview any theme in the Customizer without changing your current theme. However, if you enable a new theme, a retired Premium theme cannot be reactivated. Retired free themes should still be available to activate in your site’s WP Admin Themes Dashboard at
    https://maurusrealm.wordpress.com/wp-admin/themes.php

    Let us know if you have any other question about this.

    Thank you for your reply.

    Since I am using a free retired theme, I guess I can still reactivate it later if I activate a new theme.

    Thanks again.

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