tl;dr
Beginning with its next release, WooCommerce Payments will begin transitioning to a new version support policy that aligns with WooCommerce’s overarching L-2 version support policy.
The details
WooCommerce Payments currently supports versions of WordPress back to the 5.4 release and versions of WooCommerce back to the 4.0 release. Starting with its next release on May 12, 2021, WooCommerce Payments will begin shifting to a version support policy that matches WooCommerce’s overarching L-2 support policy, which provides support for the latest minor release of WooCommerce and WordPress core, along with the previous two before that.
The intent of this shift is twofold. At a high level, this measure helps promote consistency and engineering alignment across the WooCommerce platform. From a practical standpoint, it also helps facilitate the utilization of resources that are shared across a number of different software packages. For instance, there are many features in the JavaScript packages that power WooCommerce Admin that are not feasible for WooCommerce Pay to use because they do not exist in older versions of WooCommerce. By adopting a leaner version support policy, WooCommerce Payments will be able to take advantage of new platform features more quickly and efficiently.
This transition will be a phased rollout that occurs gradually over three releases. The table below provides an overview of when support will be dropped for older WordPress and WooCommerce versions.
Transition Timeline
| WooCommerce Payments Version | Supported WordPress Versions | Supported WooCommerce Versions |
|---|---|---|
| 2.3 (current) | 5.4-5.7 | 4.0-5.2 |
| 2.4 (May 12) | 5.4-5.7 | 4.5-5.2 |
| 2.5 (June 2) | 5.5-5.7 (L-2) | 4.8-5.3 |
| 2.6 (June 23) | 5.5-5.7 (L-2) | 5.2-5.4 (L-2) |
How can I tell if this affects me?
This transition affects both merchants who use WooCommerce Payments and developers who build solutions for it.
What action should I take?
If you are a developer who builds solutions with WooCommerce Payments, be they extensions or external integrations, when the support policy is fully implemented, new releases of WooCommerce Payments will be tested against a narrower range of WordPress and WooCommerce versions. Use the timeline above to get an idea of which versions of WooCommerce Payments will support which versions of WordPress and WooCommerce, and take appropriate steps to ensure your extension remains compatible going forward.
Merchants using WooCommerce Payments will only receive support if they are running versions of WooCommerce and WordPress that fall within the L-2 range for that release. For any merchants running older versions, we recommend they update to the latest release. There are instructions for updating WooCommerce and updating WordPress in the WooCommerce Docs.
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