Reminder: PHP Updates Begin in 4 Weeks

In December 2024, we shared a new, extended timeline to help your teams plan ahead for the end of security support, for PHP version 8.1. If you’ve logged into the VIP Dashboard recently, you may have seen a reminder to update your environments, if there are still some running on 8.1. As of today, we are now 4 weeks out from our first wave of updates. 

On Monday, November 17th we will be updating any non-production environments that are still on PHP 8.1, to version 8.2. Three weeks following that date, on Monday, December 8th, we will be updating production environments (and any other remaining environments) that are still on PHP 8.1, to version 8.2. 

Customers are encouraged to run these updates themselves using the VIP Dashboard, ahead of VIP’s update day, which ensures your team has ultimate flexibility in rolling back and addressing any unexpected issues that may arise. Rolling back to PHP version 8.1 will not be an available option, beginning December 8th. Should you choose to have VIP run these updates for you, please refer to our guidelines around preparing application code for an update, so that your environments are properly tested for any compatibility issues, ahead of the update day.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out; we’re here to help.

VIP Timeline for Non-Updated Environments

Monday, November 17th

VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will update all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP version 8.2 or higher. We are proceeding with non-production environments first in order to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production.

Monday, December 8th

VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2 or higher.

PHP Version 8.1 Roll Back Option Removed
The option to select PHP version 8.1 will be removed from the software management tool. 

Wednesday, December 31st

PHP 8.1 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.1 ends.

Planning your 2025 PHP 8.2 Update

Earlier this year, we shared that the PHP core team had announced some changes to their update timeline, which resulted in security support for PHP 8.1 being extended by one year to December 31, 2025. As we wrap up 2024 and begin planning for 2025, we want to ensure your team incorporates this update into your roadmap for next year.

In keeping with previous PHP updates, VIP is committed to ensuring all customers have updated to PHP 8.2 before the PHP deadline (December 31, 2025) so that there is no risk to your application’s security. Below, you will find VIP’s new & confirmed 2025 PHP update timeline. Please note: this timeline differs from the tentative one previously shared.

If customers have not updated their environments by the dates outlined, VIP will update the environments on the customer’s behalf. Please note that any updates VIP makes could result in issues if the proper customer testing has not been completed. If issues arise, we’ll do our best to assist where we can, but we ask that you please test and deploy the update ahead of this schedule to avoid any interruptions. This update cannot be deferred, and VIP is here to support you and your team as you work toward it.

VIP Timeline for Environments not yet on PHP 8.2

Monday, November 17, 2025
VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. We are proceeding with non-production environments first to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production environments.

Monday, December 8, 2025
VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. After this date, working with your teams on post-update issues will be the priority. 

Earlier PHP Version Options Removed
The option to select PHP version 8.1 will be removed from the software management tool. 

Wednesday, December 31, 2025
PHP 8.1 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.1 ends.

Let VIP do the heavy lifting!

Instead of the do-it-yourself approach, focus on your key priorities while our experienced staff manage, validate, and implement your PHP update for you with the specific needs of your applications in mind. Maximize your team’s resources, improve site stability, and unlock peace of mind with our Upgrade Assurance service. This is a popular new service that we offer for both WordPress and PHP updates, so we recommend securing your spot early. If you’re interested in learning more, please connect with your Relationship Manager or reach out to our Support Team.

Helpful Resources

Support
VIP is here to help along the way, and our Support team is always available to answer questions as you and your team work through the update. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance.

Tooling
Your application’s software versions can be managed directly by you in the VIP Dashboard.

Documentation
We have helpful documentation available to guide you through preparing your application code for a PHP update.

PHP 8.4 is available!

In case you missed it, VIP announced the availability of PHP 8.4, last month. We strongly encourage your team to stay ahead of the PHP update curve and begin testing and updating to PHP 8.3 or 8.4 in the year ahead. 

Future PHP End-of-Life Dates

To better plan for the road ahead, please be aware of the current security support end-of-life (EOL) schedule for the different PHP versions. These dates are pulled from the official PHP schedule here. VIP will continue to post to the Lobby with our updated timeline for each year, which will likely follow the same outline as shared above, wrapping up a few weeks ahead of the PHP date.

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As of December 17, 2024

PHP 8.4 Available on WordPress VIP

We are excited to announce the availability of PHP 8.4 on WordPress VIP.
This version introduces a series of new features, optimizations, and updates, continuing PHP’s journey toward better performance, developer experience, and modern flexibility. Here are some key highlights:

  • Property Hooks: Property hooks provide support for computed properties that can natively be understood by IDEs and static analysis tools. Implementing property hooks may significantly reduce the amount of boilerplate getters and setters.
  • Asymmetric Visibility: The scope to write to a property may now be controlled independently from the scope to read the property, reducing the need for boilerplate getter methods to expose a property’s value without allowing modification from the outside of a class.
  • Array Enhancements: New native functions array_find, array_find_key, array_any, and array_all simplify common array operations.
  • Lazy Objects: Native support for creating lazy-initialized objects whose initialization is deferred until its state is observed or modified.
  • New JIT implementation based on Intermediate Representation Framework.
  • HTML5-compliant DOM API: New DOM API that includes standards-compliant support for parsing HTML5 documents, fixes several long-standing compliance bugs in the behavior of the DOM functionality, and adds several functions to make working with documents more convenient.
  • Object-Oriented BCMath: Introduces an object-oriented API for BCMath
  • new MyClass()->method() without parentheses: Properties and methods of a newly instantiated object can now be accessed without wrapping the new expression in parentheses.

For a full breakdown of changes, visit the PHP 8.4 Release Announcement.

Testing your application with PHP 8.4

It’s always a good idea to test your application code with every new release of PHP. WordPress VIP recommends that you use several methods to prepare for a PHP upgrade.

Scan your codebase for incompatibilities

Review the WordPress VIP documentation “Prepare application code for a PHP version upgrade” guide and perform the scan.

Test with the VIP Local Development Environment

We recommend using the VIP Local Development Environment to test your application code locally.

Create a new environment with PHP 8.4: 

vip dev-env create --slug=mytestsite --php=8.4

Or update an existing local environment with PHP 8.4: 

vip dev-env update --slug=mytestsite --php=8.4

Test with VIP Codespaces

Update your devcontainer.json PHP feature definition and rebuild the codespace:

{
"features": {
    "ghcr.io/automattic/vip-codespaces/php:latest": {
        // PHP version options: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
        "version": "8.4",
        "composer": true
    }
}

Test with a non-production VIP Platform environment

To update your non-production environments to PHP 8.4, either use the Software Management feature in the VIP Dashboard, or run the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI. For example:

vip @mytestsite.testing config software update php 8.4

Please Note: Currently, our minimum supported version is 8.1. Security support for 8.1 ends on December 31, 2025.

Let VIP Do The Heavy Lifting!

Instead of the do-it-yourself approach, focus on your key priorities while our experienced staff manage, validate, and implement your PHP update for you with the specific needs of your applications in mind. Maximize your team’s resources, improve site stability, and unlock peace of mind with our Upgrade Assurance Service. If you’re interested in learning more, please connect with your Relationship Manager, or reach out to our Support Team.

PHP 8.2 Update Timeline Extended

Update: Please see this post for the official 2025 VIP Timeline

Recently, the PHP core team voted on several topics, two of which affect our current update timeline:

  1. A unanimous vote to extend release cycles from 3 years to 4 years.
    1. 2 years for bug fixes
    2. 2 years for security support
  2. A unanimous vote to extend release cycles to the end of the calendar year.
    1. Previously, cycles ended in late November.

What does this mean for the VIP PHP 8.2 update timeline?

As a result of this vote, security support for PHP 8.1 has been extended by one year, to December 31, 2025. This means that VIP’s previously communicated timeline to ensure customers are on version 8.2 in November 2024, is no longer being enforced.

While an additional year might be exactly what your team needs right now, VIP strongly encourages those who have planned on updating to 8.2 this year, to keep moving forward. As you can see from the PHP timeline here, after next year’s 8.1 cycle ends, every year following will still require an update, unless you’re a version or two ahead. Staying a version ahead gives your team the flexibility to plan your updates with more buffer and control, and you get to enjoy the benefits of newer versions, earlier.

Should you need assistance as you’re working through the update, our Support team is always available to answer questions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance. For future update planning, keep our Upgrade Assurance Service in mind. Instead of the do-it-yourself approach, focus on your key priorities while our experienced staff manage, validate, and implement your PHP update for you with the specific needs of your applications in mind. Reach out to your Support Team if you’re interested in learning more.

*NEW* VIP Timeline for environments not yet on PHP 8.2 (Tentative)

While PHP’s support for version 8.1 is now extended until December 31, 2025, we know that December is both an extremely busy time of year for most customers, as well as a period of code freezes, and time away from work. For these reasons, WordPress VIP is currently targeting the timeline outlined below, avoiding most of December 2025 in our timeline. While these dates are tentative, and will be confirmed by January 2025, they should give you an idea of how far in advance of the December 31 date, we are planning.

Tuesday, November 18, 2025
VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. We are proceeding with non-production environments first to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production environments.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025
VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. After this date, working with your teams on post-update issues will be the priority. 

Earlier PHP Version Options Removed
The option to select PHP 8.1 will be removed from the software management tool. 

Wednesday, December 31, 2025
PHP 8.1 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.1 ends.

PHP 8.2 Update Timeline

UPDATE: The 8.2 timeline has been extended to 2025.
Please see this post for additional details.

Security support for PHP version 8.1 will end on November 25, 2024. As part of VIP’s continued focus on your application’s security, we are committed to ensuring all customers have updated to PHP 8.2 ahead of this date.  Below, you will find VIP’s PHP update timeline.

If customers have not updated their environments by the dates outlined, VIP will update the environments on the customer’s behalf. Please note that any updates made by VIP could result in issues if the proper customer testing has not been completed. If issues arise, we’ll do our best to assist where we can, but ask that you please test and deploy the update ahead of this schedule, to avoid any interruptions. This update cannot be deferred, and VIP is here to support you and your team as you work toward it.

VIP Timeline For Environments Not Yet On PHP 8.2

Tuesday, October 29, 2024
VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. We are proceeding with non-production environments first to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production environments.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024
VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.2
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.2. After this date, working with your teams on post-update issues will be the priority. 

Earlier PHP Version Options Removed
The option to select PHP version 8.1 will be removed from the software management tool. 

Monday, November 25, 2024
PHP 8.1 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.1 ends.

Let VIP Do The Heavy Lifting!

Instead of the do-it-yourself approach, focus on your key priorities while our experienced staff manage, validate, and implement your PHP update for you with the specific needs of your applications in mind. Maximize your team’s resources, improve site stability, and unlock peace of mind with our Upgrade Assurance Service. This is a popular new service that we offer, for both WordPress and PHP updates, so we recommend securing your spot early. If you’re interested in learning more, please connect with your Relationship Manager, or reach out to our Support Team.

Helpful Resources

Support
VIP is here to help along the way, and our Support team is always available to answer questions as you and your team work through the update. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance.

Tooling
Your application’s software versions can be managed directly by you in the VIP Dashboard.

Documentation
We have helpful documentation available to guide you through preparing your application code for a PHP update.

PHP 8.3 is available!

In case you missed it, VIP announced the availability of PHP 8.3, in December 2023. We strongly encourage your team to stay ahead of the PHP update curve, and begin testing and updating to PHP 8.3 this year. 

Future PHP End-of-Life Dates

To better plan for the road ahead, please be aware of the current security support end-of-life (EOL) schedule for the following PHP versions. These dates are pulled from the official PHP schedule, here. VIP will continue to post to the Lobby with our updated timeline for each year, which will likely follow the same outline as shared above, wrapping up roughly 2 weeks ahead of the PHP date.

PHP Update Timelines

Deprecated PHP VersionVIP Version Update CompletePHP Security Support EOL
8.1November 12, 2024November 25, 2024
8.2November 24, 2025*December 8, 2025
8.3November 9, 2026*November 23, 2026
*Date is tentative

PHP 8.3 Available on WordPress VIP

We are excited to announce the availability of PHP 8.3 on WordPress VIP. This version introduces a host of new features, improvements, and deprecations. Here are some of the key highlights:

  • Typed class constants, dynamic class constant fetch.
  • #[\Override] attribute for clearer method overriding. By adding the #[\Override] attribute to a method, PHP will ensure that a method with the same name exists in a parent class or in an implemented interface.
  • Deep-cloning of readonly properties. 
  • json_validate() function allows to check if a string is syntactically valid JSON, while being more efficient than json_decode().
  • The Random Extension that was added in PHP 8.2 was extended by a new method to generate random strings consisting of specific bytes only. This method allows the developer to easily generate random identifiers, such as domain names, and numeric strings of arbitrary length. Randomizer::getFloat() and Randomizer::nextFloat() methods were also added  to generate random floats in an unbiased fashion.

There are new classes, interfaces, and functions, along with deprecations and backward compatibility breaks. This release emphasizes improved type safety and syntax clarity. For more details, visit the PHP 8.3 Release Announcement.

Testing your application with PHP 8.3

It’s always a good idea to test your application code with every new release of PHP.

WordPress VIP recommends that you use several methods to prepare for a PHP upgrade.

Scan your codebase for incompatibilities

Review the WordPress VIP documentation “Prepare application code for a PHP version upgrade” guide and perform the scan.

Test with the VIP Local Development Environment

We recommend using the VIP Local Development Environment to test your application code locally.

Create a new environment with PHP 8.3: 

vip dev-env create --slug=mytestsite --php=8.3

Or update an existing local environment with PHP 8.3: 

vip dev-env update --slug=mytestsite --php=8.3

Test with a non-production VIP Platform environment

To update your non-production environments to PHP 8.3, either use the Software Management feature in the VIP Dashboard, or run the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI. For example:

vip @mytestsite.testing config software update php 8.3


Please Note: Currently, our minimum supported version is 8.1. Security support for 8.1 ends on November 25, 2024. WordPress VIP will be looking to begin updating environments that are not on 8.2 or higher, up to 30 days prior to this date. A formal timeline will be shared in January 2024.

Reminder: PHP Updates Begin in 30 Days

OCT 26 UPDATE: The ability to roll back to a version earlier than PHP 8.1, will remain available in the software update tool, through Sunday, November 26- the last day of security support by PHP. Earlier version options will be permanently removed on Monday, November 27, 2023.

In July, we called your attention to the upcoming security support end-of-life for PHP 8.0, and the timeline that VIP has outlined, to prepare customers ahead of the formal PHP deadline of November 26, 2023.

We are now 30 days out from the first wave of VIP updates commencing, and are taking this opportunity to remind customers to please test and deploy the update ahead of this schedule, to avoid any interruptions. Below are a few scenarios we’ve outlined to ensure your teams know what to expect. In addition, our PHP Updates documentation was recently updated to include a more robust outline to help your teams address these updates now, and in the future.

Customer Scenarios

Ideal: We’ve tested and deployed the update ahead of the VIP schedule.
Amazing! There will be no surprises for your team, and VIP will not touch your application when running our updates. 

Incomplete: We’ve tested this update, and are going to wait for VIP to run the update.
While it’s awesome that you’ve tested your application(s) against the update, we don’t recommend waiting for VIP to run the update for you, for a few reasons:

  • VIP may run the update at a time in which your team is not available. If the update deploys with no issue, this is not a problem, but if it doesn’t, having your team available to address any issues with your application puts your business in a better position. 
  • While differences between test environments and production environments may be minor, we know that there is always the possibility for tweaks needed after a production deployment. We suggest eliminating that variable ahead of time.
  • Updating the software version of PHP can be managed directly from the VIP Dashboard.

Risk: We have not had time to test the update ahead of the VIP schedule.
VIP is not able to defer this update. We are adhering to the PHP schedule, and keeping your application secure is a top priority. If VIP runs the update without a customer testing first, there is a possibility that your application may run into issues that your team needs to rapidly address.

VIP Timeline for Non-Updated Environments

Monday, October 30, 2023

VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.1
VIP will begin updating all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.1. We are proceeding with non-production environments first in order to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production.

Monday, November 13, 2023

VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.1
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.1. After this date, working with your teams on post-update issues will be the priority. 

Earlier PHP Version Options Removed
The option to select PHP version 7.4 (deprecated) and 8.0 is removed from the software management tool. 

Sunday, November 26, 2023

PHP 8.0 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.0 ends.

Questions?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support team with any questions.

PHP 8.1 Update Timeline

OCT 26 UPDATE: The ability to roll back to a version earlier than PHP 8.1, will remain available in the software update tool, through Sunday, November 26- the last day of security support by PHP. Earlier version options will be permanently removed on Monday, November 27, 2023.

PHP 8.0 will lose security support on November 26, 2023. VIP prioritizes your application’s security, and we are committed to ensuring all customers have updated to PHP 8.1 ahead of this date.  Below, you will find VIP’s PHP 8.1 update timeline.

If customers have not updated their environments by the dates outlined, VIP will update the environments on the customer’s behalf. Please note that any updates made by VIP could result in issues if the proper customer testing has not been completed. If issues arise, we’ll do our best to assist where we can, but ask that you please test and deploy the update ahead of this schedule, to avoid any interruptions. This update cannot be deferred, and VIP is here to support you and your team as you work toward it.

PHP 8.1 Timeline for Non-Updated Environments

Monday, October 30, 2023

VIP Updates Non-Production Environments to PHP 8.1
VIP will begin updating all non-production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.1. We are proceeding with non-production environments first in order to provide customers time to address any issues that arise as a result of the update, before updating production.

Monday, November 13, 2023

VIP Updates Production Environments to PHP 8.1
VIP will begin updating all production environments that are not yet on PHP 8.1. After this date, working with your teams on post-update issues will be the priority. 

Earlier PHP Version Options Removed
The option to select PHP version 7.4 (deprecated) and 8.0 is removed from the software management tool. 

Sunday, November 26, 2023

PHP 8.0 End of Life
Security support for PHP 8.0 ends.

How can VIP help?

Support
VIP is here to help along the way, and our Support team is always available to answer questions as you and your team work through the update. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance.

Tooling
Your application’s software version can be managed directly by you in the VIP Dashboard.

Partners
Could your team benefit from experienced, extra hands to address this update? We’d be happy to connect you to one of our Featured Partner agencies who can assist via a short-term engagement. Our Partnerships team would be happy to recommend a partner who would be a good fit. If you’re interested in being connected with a partner, please submit the form on this page, and our Partnerships team will be in touch. 

Documentation
We have helpful documentation available to guide you through preparing your application code for a PHP update.

PHP 8.2

In case you missed it, VIP is pleased to announce the release of PHP 8.2. If your team would love to stay ahead of the PHP update curve, we recommend testing and updating to PHP 8.2 this year. This means your team would not need to tackle another PHP update until late 2025! 

PHP 8.2 Available on WordPress VIP

We are excited to announce the availability of PHP 8.2 on WordPress VIP. This version introduces a host of new features, improvements, and deprecations. Here are some of the key highlights.

New features

Readonly Classes: PHP 8.2 introduces the concept of readonly classes. This allows you to define classes where certain properties are read-only and cannot be changed after they are set in the constructor.

Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF) Types: DNF types allow us to combine union and intersection types, following a strict rule: when combining union and intersection types, intersection types must be grouped with brackets.

Allow null, false, and true as stand-alone types: In PHP 8.2, null, false, and true can be used as stand-alone types. This allows for more precise type declarations in your code.

New “Random” extension: The “random” extension provides a new object-oriented API to random number generation. Instead of relying on a globally seeded random number generator (RNG) using the Mersenne Twister algorithm, the object-oriented API provides several classes (“Engine”s) providing access to modern algorithms that store their state within objects to allow for multiple independent seedable sequences.

Constants in traits: PHP 8.2 allows you to define constants in traits. However, you cannot access the constant through the name of the trait, but, you can access the constant through the class that uses the trait.

Deprecations and backward incompatible changes

  • Deprecated dynamic properties: The creation of dynamic properties is deprecated, unless the class opts in by using the #[\AllowDynamicProperties] attribute. stdClass allows dynamic properties. Usage of the __get()/__set() magic methods is not affected by this change. 
  • Deprecated ${} string style interpolation
  • Deprecated utf8_encode and utf8_decode functions.

Additional information about deprecations and the full list of backward incompatible changes can be reviewed on the PHP.net website.

More detailed information about all of the changes in PHP 8.2 is available in the official PHP 8.2 release notes.

Testing your application with PHP 8.2

It’s always a good idea to test your application code with every new release of PHP.

WordPress VIP recommends that you use several methods to prepare for a PHP upgrade.

Scan your codebase for incompatibilities

Review the WordPress VIP documentation “Prepare application code for a PHP version upgrade” guide and perform the scan.

Test with the VIP Local Development Environment

We recommend using the VIP Local Development Environment to test your application code locally.

Create a new environment with PHP 8.2:  

vip dev-env create --slug=mytestsite --php=8.2

Or update an existing local environment with PHP 8.2:  

vip dev-env update --slug=mytestsite --php=8.2
An example of VIP-CLI command to create a new environment

Test with a non-production VIP Platform environment

To update your non-production environments to PHP 8.2, either use the Software Management feature in the VIP Dashboard, or run the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI. For example:

vip @mytestsite.testing config software update php 8.2
Software Management - PHP screen
An example of CLI comand to update the local dev env

WordPress DB_* constants will be automatically defined for PHP 8 compatibility

For PHP versions 8.0 and newer, accessing an undefined constant will result in a fatal error — in older versions, it triggered a warning. To ensure utmost compatibility during our PHP 8.0 update path, we will be automatically defining the below constants on Tuesday, October 4 for all production WordPress environments:

  • DB_NAME
  • DB_HOST
  • DB_USER
  • DB_PASSWORD

This change is currently enabled for all non-production WordPress environments. We highly recommend checking your codebase to see if/how any of the above constants are being accessed to assess potential impacts.

It was not defined by default due to VIP’s drop-in usage of HyperDB and was not needed on older PHP versions (< 8.0). For more information on updating PHP 8 on WordPress VIP, please see our guide on getting started.