Disable Updates - Version Locker: Stop Automatic Plugin, Theme and Core Updates

Install Version Locker and go to Tools > Version Locker. Toggle the lock on any plugin to hold it at its current version, or turn on "Disable all plugin updates" in the Settings tab to stop every plugin update at once. Both are reversible at any time.

Lock that single plugin from the Plugins tab. Every other plugin keeps updating as normal. Locks are per item, so you are not forced into an all-or-nothing choice.

Yes. The Settings tab has a separate switch for core updates, which also turns off core auto-updates. It is independent of your plugin and theme locks.

Lock the plugin, then use the roll back link on its row. You will see every version WordPress.org still publishes, older than the one you have installed. Pick one, confirm, and Version Locker reinstalls it and pins the plugin there so the update you are stepping away from does not come straight back. Take a database backup first: rolling back replaces files, but it cannot undo database changes a newer version already made.

Yes. Set a waiting period in the Settings tab and every new release is held for that many days before WordPress offers it. Each release gets its own window. This only delays updates. It never starts one, and it never turns on auto-updates for a site that had them off.

Locked items are removed from the counts WordPress uses for the update badge, so the number reflects only the updates you can actually apply. Version Locker still shows you the held update on its own screen, including the new version number, so nothing is hidden from you.

It can, if you lock something and forget about it. That is why every lock records the version it was pinned at, shows how far behind you have fallen with a major, minor, or patch badge, and can be given a date to unlock itself. Locking is meant to delay an update you have not tested yet, not to avoid updating forever.

Locking does not. It only uses WordPress filters to control update behavior, so your files are left exactly as they are. Roll Back is the exception, and it only runs when you ask for it. Choosing a version and confirming the warning replaces the installed files with that release, the same way an update does.

Yes. The Plugins and Themes tabs show an "update available" indicator with the new version number for locked items, but the update is held and the update button will not appear until you unlock.

Yes, just unlock it first. Updates work normally once unlocked.

Locking targets specific items. The site-wide switches turn off ALL plugin updates, ALL theme updates, or core updates at once.

No. The site-wide switches only stop WordPress update checks: update notices, one-click updates, and auto-updates. A plugin uploaded by hand from Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin is treated by WordPress as an install, so an update or downgrade ZIP will still install. To stop that, lock the specific plugin or turn on "Block plugin installs". Files changed directly on the server over FTP, SSH, or cPanel cannot be blocked by any plugin, because WordPress does not run during a direct file copy.

Yes. Export your locks and settings to a file from the Settings tab, then import that file on another site. Nothing is applied on upload: you first see which locks would be added or removed and which settings would change. An imported file can only change Version Locker's own settings, and locks for items not installed on the receiving site are skipped.

Yes. Each site keeps its own list of locks, so what one site shows as locked is its own business. Protection works across the whole network, though, because it has to. Plugin and theme files exist once and are shared by every site, so a lock set on any single site stops those files being updated from anywhere, including Network Admin. Without that, one site could overwrite the version another site deliberately kept.

No. Version Locker does no work at all on front-end page views. Its data is only read when WordPress is deciding about updates, which happens in the admin and on cron, never when a visitor loads a page.

By default, all locks and settings are preserved on uninstall. To delete all data on removal, turn on "Delete everything on uninstall" in the Settings tab before uninstalling.