How Cloudways SafeUpdates Prevents WordPress Update Breakages? (Full Guide)

How about using a fast and secure web hosting that automatically detects, tests, and updates your WordPress applications without breaking your site? It would be fantastic, right? Hereafter, you don’t need to worry about outdated versions, core updates, and vulnerabilities. 

What are all these about? As a proud Cloudways hosting user for the past seven years, I should explain their newly introduced security feature, SafeUpdates. Additionally, I would like to guide you through activating this new feature on your site using step-by-step instructions.

You may also watch my Video tutorial for easy understanding. Let’s begin with a brief explanation of Cloudways SafeUpdates!

Disclosure: We get a commission when you buy a product via our affiliate link at no additional cost.

What is Cloudways SafeUpdates?

Cloudways SafeUpdates is an automated process that updates your WordPress Core files. As it saves time and improves site security, you may focus on your business growth without worrying about maintenance tasks. 

Using a Visual regression test, this premium safety feature of Cloudways ensures the application updates don’t break your site. It simplifies your workflow; yes, it takes just a click to complete the procedure in minutes. 

It is an excellent move by the Cloudways team to improve our website security by ensuring the latest versions of the apps.

If an unexpected error occurs during the process, it will roll back the changes and return your site to its previous working state. 

How Does Cloudways SafeUpdates Work?

Cloudways SafeUpdates lists themes and plugins with their current versions. Then, it will check for the new versions and shortlist the applications to be updated.

During this process, it monitors your website to ensure proper operation and confirms that it is always available. 

This Cloudways security feature has two modes!

• On-Demand – To manually run the updates from the Dashboard.
• Automatic – Automated WordPress updates through your convenient schedule. 

Now, let’s see how the Cloudways SafeUpdates work when you choose either of the modes mentioned above. 

It undergoes five stages! 

When you click the “Activate SafeUpdates” button, it will show your theme and plugin applications. Now, you should pick your desired applications to be updated. Hit “Update.” 

It takes your site back up, and the five-stage process will start!

Stage 1 – Building Staging Site

After the updates are triggered, the SafeUpdates features will build a staging site. As you know, it is a replica of your website, and yes, all the updates will be carried out in this secure environment. 

Stage 2 – Syncing Staging Site

As the name implies, it will sync all your files to the staging site. 

Stage 3 – Updating Staging Site

In this stage, screenshots will be taken for validation. 

Stage 4 – Validating staging Site

It compares the screenshots and checks for errors.

Stage 5 – Updating Production Site

If everything looks good, it proceeds with the updates; otherwise, it cancels the process.

From the above image, you can see that the Safe updates do several tasks, like

• Speed Test Results
• HTML/CSS Results
• Taking Screenshot
• Checks Network Error
• WordPress Error Log
• Update Results
• Comparing Screenshots

How To Activate SafeUpdates In Cloudways?

Step 1: Visit your Cloudways dashboard section by entering your registered email and password.

Step 2: Click “Applications” in the top menu. Select Your Server; Under “Application Management,” several preferences are available, and at last, Safe Updates is present with a notification, “New.” 

Step 3: Select the SafeUpdates section, and look at its features. You can set up on-demand updates, scheduled updates, End-to-End testing, and a few more tests given here to ensure your site’s performance and keep it safe from security risks.  

Step 4: Click “Activate Safe Updates.” It’ll display all your WordPress applications, which are nothing but the WordPress core, Theme, and Plugin sections. You can automatically update these three sections using the newly launched Security feature in Cloudways. 

Step 5: Select the Themes and plugins that need to be updated. Then click Update to start the SafeUpdates process, which consists of five steps. 

Step 6: Now, the safe update feature creates a staging site as the first step; as you know, it is a copy of your live website to test changes or implement a new feature in a secure environment. Since this is a private section, you can make any changes to your site and test the new features.  

Step 7: You may give an “On-Demand updates” test. After the first step, syncing the Staging Site will start. It’ll synchronize all your data. And as a 3^rd step, it will update your staging site. 

It’ll test some essential things, display notifications like Speed Test results, WordPress update results, and HTML/CSS results, and take and compare screenshots. Before moving to the next step, it’ll show some results. All these things have been checked in the 3^rd step. 

To ensure there’s no error, all the details are validated in the next step, validating the Staging Site. Only when everything is good is it confirmed that it’ll move to the last step. 

So, everything here is done. Once finished, it’ll show you a message. At the top, look at the message stating it has been updated successfully.

After receiving the message, make sure your site applications are up to date. 

Step 8: Next is the Schedule Update. Enable it first. Select any day and your preferred time.

In the Custom Update list, you can select your preferred applications to update to anything. Then provide the email ID you want to use to receive notifications about updates. 

Step 9: Enable Pre-Notification. It’ll send an email to you within 24 hours after the update time.

Next, enable Successful Update. Once everything is over, you’ll receive an update. Enable Aborted Update. If your update gets canceled, you’ll get an email. 

Step 10: Next is History. If you want to know more, click View Details. Click on it. It’ll show a detailed report. 

So, we have set up Cloudways SafeUpdates correctly. I appreciate your interest in having this feature for your WordPress site.

It is one of the significant feature updates by Cloudways that lets you focus on your business tasks without spending time on on-site maintenance. 

If you have doubts about enabling the Cloudways safe updates feature, please share them in the Comments section. 

Video Tutorial To Enable Cloudways SafeUpdates

I have enabled the Cloudways SafeUpdates feature for one of my blogs, so it was easy to make a video tutorial for my readers!

Here is the video guideline for better understanding!

My favourite Features Of SafeUpdates

Cloudways SafeUpdates has several features, but here are my favorites!

1. Auto Detection

We will not be missing any site updates! It automatically finds out the apps to be updated. We may chill out and make new business plans.

2. Core Web Vitals Test

It ensures that newly updated files do not affect your website’s core web vitals score.

3. Visual Regression Test

This advanced test will check for code changes by comparing the screenshots taken before and after the code modifications.

Do Cloudways Competitors Have a SafeUpdates Feature? 

No! Cloudways competitors like WP Engine, Kinsta, and Flywheel don’t offer this security feature. If you look at their pricing plans, they’re more expensive than Cloudways, but they didn’t deliver the same level of application update quality.

SafeUpdates is a unique feature of this best-managed cloud hosting that protects your site from intruders by blocking security holes in outdated apps. So, you don’t need to stress yourself out with forced updates or waste time on maintenance tasks.

Pricing 

Most of the Cloudways premium features are highly affordable, and this one too! It is an excellent opportunity to reduce your WordPress maintenance expenses, and if you have additional applications, you will receive a discount. Let’s check the pricing details now!

• For 1 -5 Applications – $3/Mo
• For More than 6 Applications – $2/Mo

Cloudways SafeUpdates Vs Manual WordPress Updates

Common SafeUpdates Errors & How to Fix Them

1. Visual Regression Test Failed
Cause: Layout difference detected.
Fix: Review screenshot comparison; manually inspect changes.

2. Insufficient Disk Space
Cause: Not enough storage for staging clone.
Fix: Increase server storage.

3. Update Rollback Triggered
Cause: Technical error during plugin update.
Fix: Update the plugin manually after verifying compatibility.

4. Plugin Conflict Detected
Cause: Two plugins are incompatible post-update.
Fix: Update the dependent plugin or replace it with an alternative.

Pros and Cons Of SafeUpdates

Pros

• Automated staging testing
• Visual regression detection
• Automatic rollback
• Reduces update anxiety

Cons

• additional cost
• Not foolproof for heavily customized setups

Cloudways SafeUpdates – FAQs

Wrapping Up 

Cloudways is the best managed hosting service, impressing us with its fast servers and robust security features. A couple of years ago, it introduced SafeUpdates for its customers, which is useful for busy site founders who manage multiple sites and for those who run WordPress maintenance businesses.  

Cloudways SafeUpdates can be operated in two ways: on-demand and scheduled updates. As it automatically finds, tests, and updates your WordPress applications, you need not worry about the security risks and site unavailability. Its advanced visual regression tests, core web vitals check, automated staging, and rollback amazed me.