WooCommerce 9.7: Pre-release updates

Hey folks, on Monday January 20, 2025, we kicked-off our Code Freeze ahead of the release of WooCommerce 9.7. As we begin the testing phase, and get the release ready for Beta, we wanted to share some spoilers and document any updates to the expected release timeline. 

Check back here for more updates ahead of the WooCommerce 9.7 release, scheduled for February 24, 2025. 

What’s coming in 9.7

💳 Modernized Payments Settings Experience: WooCommerce 9.7 introduces our new React-based Payments settings interface, initially rolling out to 50% of new stores. The redesigned experience provides clearer gateway status indicators, contextual guidance, and relevant payment solution suggestions. This update reduces admin notice clutter while maintaining full compatibility with existing payment extensions. Learn more about this modernization effort in our technical announcement post. Extension developers can test this new interface by enabling the reactify-classic-payments-settings feature in the Beta Tester plugin.

🚚 Enhanced Shipping Method Display: Cart and Checkout blocks now support detailed shipping information, allowing extensions to display method descriptions and estimated delivery times. This feature enables merchants to provide customers with clearer shipping expectations right at checkout. Developers can implement this using the woocommerce_package_rates filter.

⚡ Faster Block Editor Performance: We’ve significantly optimized product block registration, resulting in dramatic performance improvements in the Site Editor. The refactored system reduces subscription callbacks by 99% and cuts execution time by 75% when working with Single Product templates and product-related blocks. This enhancement improves editor responsiveness and reduces overhead during canvas interactions.

📦 Enhanced Add to Cart Options Block: The Add to Cart with Options block now includes a sleek stepper layout for quantity selection. Merchants can enable this new layout option through the block’s Quantity Selector settings, providing a more streamlined purchasing experience for customers.

🔔 Smarter Store Notice Handling: When switching to a block theme, WooCommerce now automatically manages the Store Notice feature to prevent accessibility issues. The Store Notice will be temporarily disabled when moving to a block theme and restored when returning to a classic theme. Existing block theme installations and Store Notice settings remain unchanged, while the Customizer URL path remains available for manual configuration.

Developer Advisories

🔄 Enhanced Product Variations API: The WooCommerce REST API now offers more powerful filtering capabilities for product variations. Developers can use new parameters to filter variations by status (include_status, exclude_status), virtual status (virtual), and downloadable status (downloadable), enabling more precise and efficient product queries.

🔄 Consistent Stock Management in REST API: We’ve aligned REST API stock behavior with WP Admin functionality when managing orders. Stock levels now automatically adjust when modifying line items via the API, but only for orders with processing, on-hold, or completed status. This change brings more consistency to inventory management across different interfaces.

🧹 Component Package Cleanup: We’ve removed several experimental product editor components from the @woocommerce/components package that are no longer in use. Extension developers using any of the legacy experimental components prefixed with __experimental ( WooProductFieldItem, WooProductSectionItem, WooProductTabItem, ProductSectionLayout, ProductFieldSection   ) should update their code to remove these dependencies.

Experimental Features

📧 Modernized Email Styling (Beta): WooCommerce 9.7 includes a complete refresh of the email template system with modernized styles and improved layout options. This experimental feature can be enabled via WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Features under “Email Improvements”. The new email styling system is being introduced as an opt-in feature for testing, with plans for broader rollout in WooCommerce 9.8.

API Changes

This release does not contain any API changes.

Changelog

View the full changelog.

Update timeline