New minimum requirements in WooCommerce 3.7

With the upcoming release of WooCommerce 3.7 we will be updating the minimum required versions of WordPress and PHP. In order to update and run WooCommerce 3.7 you will now be required to have at least WordPress 4.9 and PHP 5.6.

We have to do this to keep up with the code changes within the WordPress ecosystem and to be able to deliver the best experience for our users.

The good news is that according to our research only a very very small percentage of stores are running these outdated versions so the impact will be minimal. What does it mean for your store if affected? Simply put you will not be able to update to WooCommerce 3.7 when it gets released, WordPress will not offer you the update.

We have created a document explaining the details around why updating to newer versions of WordPress and PHP is beneficial and included instructions on how to safely update.

If you have any questions or feedback around the decision and work related to this update, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

10 responses to “New minimum requirements in WooCommerce 3.7”

Patrick Rauland

July 2, 2019

Definitely approve of this change.

Just curious – what percentage of stores are affected? 10%, 1%, 0.1%?

“very small” can mean a lot of things. 🙂

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1. Gerhard Potgieter
  
  July 2, 2019
  
  In the lower single digits.
  
  Reply
Glenn Martin

July 2, 2019

What’s the target release date for 3.7.0?

Will 3.6.5 precede that? or be skipped in favor of rolling it into 3.7.0?

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1. Gerhard Potgieter
  
  July 2, 2019
  
  We will continue with fix releases and 3.5.6 is scheduled for this week still. Regarding the date for 3.7, that will likely be in a month’s time. More details will be posted soon.
  
  Reply
doctorhacker

July 3, 2019

Hello! And in which release of VooKommerts you plan to introduce the concept of templates for the product editor. The prototype you previously described here: https://woocommerce.com/posts/woocommerce-and-wordpress-5-0/
I look forward to it. Thank you very much!

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1. doctorhacker
  
  July 6, 2019
  
  Please answer my question.
  
  Reply
doctorhacker

July 3, 2019

I’m sorry. Fixed: VooKommerts* – WooCommerce

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Doug Smith

July 3, 2019

Will WordPress simply not show the update at all, or will it be shown with information encouraging an update of PHP?

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1. Gerhard Potgieter
  
  July 3, 2019
  
  It will show the update but won’t allow you to update with a message saying it is not compatible.
  
  Reply
rdrg520eshs

August 19, 2019

Hello, since I did the update I cannot get Square to sync. I have disconnected and re-connect but it still does not want to work, can you help?

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