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WPML 4.8.6 — Ready for WordPress 6.9’s Breaking Change

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WordPress 6.9 includes a change that breaks backward compatibility with previous versions of WPML. We just released WPML 4.8.6 so you can update and be fully prepared.

What’s Happening in WordPress 6.9

WordPress is a living project. The core team regularly optimizes performance, stability, and security, which sometimes means changing how things work under the hood. 

Occasionally, like with WordPress 6.9, core updates can break backward compatibility in ways that significantly impact multilingual sites.

In this case, WordPress 6.9 changes how certain cache keys are generated. WPML relies on these cache keys to serve the correct language version of your pages. When there’s a mismatch between what WordPress generates and what WPML expects, things stop working correctly.

What Can Happen if You Don’t Update WPML

From our experience, caching issues tend to manifest in surprising ways. With this particular change, if you don’t update to WPML 4.8.6 before updating to WordPress 6.9, you can expect:

  • Pages loading in the wrong language
  • 404 errors on pages that should exist
  • Broken absolute links
  • Issues with ACF link fields
  • Hierarchical custom post types not working on the frontend
  • Incorrect SEO metadata
  • Other unexpected behavior

The symptoms may vary depending on your setup, but the root cause is the same.

Updating to WPML 4.8.6

We have released WPML 4.8.6 to all sites, and it can take up to 24 hours for the update to reach yours. Once it does, it will appear as a regular update on the Plugins page in your WordPress admin.

All you have to do is make sure you update WPML to version 4.8.6 before updating WordPress to 6.9.

If you want to manually initiate the update right away, use the following steps:

1

In your site’s admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin and click the Commercial tab

2

Click the Check for updates button

3

Select WPML 4.8.6 from the list and click Install

If your site is hosted on WordPress.com, you will not see the Commercial tab in the admin but can still access it by going to the following URL:

  • [your site’s URL]/wp-admin/plugin-install.php?tab=commercial

    For the exact list of changes in this release, see WPML 4.8.6 changelog.

    Keeping WPML Updated Matters

    Changes like this are not a one-time event. WordPress will continue evolving, and some of those changes will inevitably affect multilingual functionality. Your theme and other plugins face the same reality as they all need to keep pace with WordPress core.

    This is exactly what your active WPML subscription provides:

    • All WordPress releases are tested well before they’re public
    • Issues like the one in WordPress 6.9 are identified and resolved
    • WPML updates ship before WordPress releases a new version
    • You don’t need to worry about tracking WordPress development or wondering if something will break — we handle that for you

    This is why you can update to WPML 4.8.6 today, and be ready for WordPress 6.9 right away.

    17 Responses to “WPML 4.8.6 — Ready for WordPress 6.9’s Breaking Change”

    1. Hi there,

      thank you for that information. Do we have to update to 4.8.6 manually? Currently everything is on “4.8.5”, but no pending update is shown in the admin section. And yes, we have subscription.

      Thank you for a short feedback!

      Best regards
      Michael

      Reply

    2. Ok … sorry, missed that “24h-part” in your message:

      “We have released WPML 4.8.6 to all sites, and it can take up to 24 hours for the update to reach yours. Once it does, it will appear as a regular update on the Plugins page in your WordPress admin.”

      Reply

      • Hehe, no problem! Yes, exactly, it will appear in time before WP 6.9 goes out. If needed, you can also always “force” it by following the steps I outlined above (Plugins → Add New Plugin > Commercial tab). Thanks!

        Reply

    3. Hi Dario,

      I don’t see the Commercial tab on our site, https://kingcountymetro.blog, and the OTGS installer is updated to the latest version – 3.1.14.

      I have downloaded WPML 4.8.6 to my computer. Can you please provide step-by-step instructions for updating the plugin manually?

      Thanks,
      Adrian

      Reply

      • Hi Adrian! My suggestion is to go to your site today again, to the Plugins page and see if now there is a WPML 4.8.6 update available. It usually takes 24h for a release to reach all sites. There’s plenty of time because WordPress 6.9 will be released later today.

        Also, to reach the Commercial tab, go to the Plugins page and click the Add Plugin button at the top of the page. And then, you will see tabs like “Featured”, “Popular”, Recommended”, “Favorites”, and finally “Commercial”. That’s the one you need. Click it and you will see the screen for updating your WPML components directly.

        I prepared a screenshot for you, how to reach the Commercial tab: https://app.screencast.com/au4pPzpWt2jXP

        Reply

    4. Hi Dario,

      Thanks for your insight! I don’t see the update available on our Installed Plugins page yet, however, I was able to locate the “Commercial” tab.

      Just a couple of questions:
      * When downloading the update, should “Activate after download” be checked?
      * Should we disable the current version of the plugin before activating the new version?
      * We have backed up our site, including the Database. Are there any other precautions to take?

      Thanks,
      Adrian

      Reply

      • Hey Adrian, I’ll reply in case it helps anyone else:
        – Yes, it’s best to check the “Activate after download” option
        – When you update WPML via the Plugins page or the Commercial tab, there’s no need to disable the current version, just click to update
        – Doing the database backup is perfectly fine, and enough, as only WPML plugin files are updated/changed
        Thanks!

        Reply

    5. Hi Dario,

      Please disregard our last inquiry. The update appeared for us at about 2:30 am and we were able to complete the update.

      Thanks,
      Adrian

      Reply

    6. In the 4.7.4 version blog post, you mentioned that the issue where the [aria-*] attributes do not match their roles in the language selector would be fixed in 4.8. However it’s still not fixed. I can see the earliest ticket about this issue dated 17 June 2023. The fix should be very simple and would probably take your developer only a few minutes to implement.

      Reply

      • Hi Sola! Thank you for this feedback. I just created a ticket in our system to look into this and asked our lead developer for more information about this. I’ll reply here as soon as I hear back from them.

        Reply

      • Hi Sola, here’s the update about your question. We introduced the roles for accessibility compliance according to WCAG Aria Patterns for the first time in WPML 4.8. In the meantime, we have noticed a few issues in some setups (span and img element may get the wrong roles) and we plan to deliver a fix for this in WPML 4.9 (coming in January).

        It would greatly help if you could create a ticket for this and report more specifically the issue you are encountering. This will help us look into your case and make sure we are aware of it and make sure WPML 4.9 will fix it for you. Even the site URL could help us enough to understand what is wrong.

        Thank you!

        Reply

    7. I have just saw this and the wordpress has automatically updated. WPML has not yet been updated. What happens now? I rely heavily on the multilingual site and have active campaings directing people to one of my landing pages on another language.

      Reply

      • Hi Luana. No need to panic. By now, WPML 4.8.6 should have reached all sites, so here are the steps I suggest you take:
        1. Log into your site’s admin, and go to the Plugins page. Check if there is an update for WPML Multilingual CMS available there.
        2. If, by any chance, you still don’t see the update on the Plugins page, click the “Add Plugin” button at the top and then click the “Commercial” tab.
        3. On the Commercial tab, click the “Check for updates” button. Now, WPML 4.8.6 must appear as an available update. Select WPML Multilingual CMS and click the “Download” button.

        This will update your site to WPML 4.8.6 and you’re all set.

        We always send a newsletter out before a major WordPress release, so you won’t be surprised.

        Reply

    8. Hi there,

      I am having difficulty updating to 4.8.6 for WPML Multilingual CMS. Similarly, I’m having difficulty updating to 3.4.1 for WPML String Translation.

      In any case, we have updated to WP 6.9. and OTGS Installer is 3.1.14

      a) When I go to Plugins > select “update now”, I receive an Update failed;” message for both WPML plugins.

      b) When I go to Plugins > Add Plugin > Commercial > select the plugins > select Activate after download > select Download > I receive in the “Admin Notices” a message that reads “WPML plugin cannot connect to wpml.org.” When I select “communication error details”, I see the “Installer Support” page with no issues.

      My only other option is to reach out to support, which I’m hoping is my final option after posting in here.

      Thanks in advance!

      Andrew

      Reply

      • Hi Andrew, sorry to hear about these issues. What you can try before contacting support:
        – Go to the Downloads page and download both WPML Multilingual CMS 4.8.6 and String Transtlation 3.4.1.
        – Go to your site’s admin, “Plugins” page and click the “Add Plugin” button at the top.
        – On the “Add Plugins” page, click the “Upload Plugin” button, select the downloaded ZIP file for WPML Multilingual CMS 4.8.6 and click “Install Now”.
        – Do the same to upload the String Translation 3.4.1 plugin.
        – Activate both plugins.

        If this doesn’t work, there’s probably some other issue causing this and you should open a ticket in our support.

        Reply

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