UpdateGuard – Safe Update Manager

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UpdateGuard – WordPress Update Control Plugin

Need to disable automatic updates WordPress applies without warning? UpdateGuard is a free WordPress site maintenance plugin that helps you manage WordPress plugin updates safely using semantic versioning.

As a WordPress update control plugin, it lets you allow patch and minor updates while blocking major releases that can break your site. It is a safe WordPress updates tool for agencies, developers, and site owners who want to prevent automatic plugin updates WordPress runs by default.

Who Is It For?

• Site Administrators – Manage WordPress plugin updates with clear major, minor, patch, and hold policies.
• Agencies – Apply the same update rules across client sites.
• Developers – Test updates safely before production changes.
• Business Owners – Keep security patches applied without surprise breaking changes.

How It Works

1. Set a global update policy (Major, Minor, Patch, or Hold).
2. Optionally set per-plugin rules in a sortable table.
3. UpdateGuard intercepts WordPress update checks every 12 hours.
4. Allowed updates apply automatically. Blocked updates stay pending and are logged.
5. Email alerts summarise applied, blocked, and pending updates.

Semantic Versioning Levels:

• Major (e.g. 3.0.0 to 4.0.0) – Breaking changes, blocked by default
• Minor (e.g. 3.1.0 to 3.2.0) – New features, backwards compatible
• Patch (e.g. 3.1.1 to 3.1.2) – Bug fixes and security patches
• Hold – Block all updates for a specific plugin

Key Features

Update Control

• WordPress Update Manager Plugin – Control plugin updates with semantic versioning
• Prevent Automatic Plugin Updates WordPress – Block major updates that exceed your policy
• Per-Plugin Rules – Set Major, Minor, Patch, or Hold for each plugin individually
• Manual Update Blocking – Blocks bulk and manual updates from the Plugins page that violate your policy
• Test Update Workflow – One-click “Check and Update Plugins Now” with a separate test level

Monitoring & Notifications

• Pending Updates Dashboard – Green for auto-apply, red for blocked updates
• Email Notifications – Alerts for applied, blocked, and pending updates with changelog links
• Comprehensive Logging – Track version changes with configurable log retention
• Custom Admin Email – Send notifications to any address

Site Maintenance

• Theme Auto-Updates – Enable or disable automatic theme updates
• Translation Auto-Updates – Enable or disable translation file updates
• Lock Settings – Prevent other users from changing update policies
• Multisite Support – Network admin menu and network-wide settings
• Clean Uninstall – All options removed on uninstall
• Lightweight – No external API calls, fast batch processing

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