Many popular automation plugins got updated this week: BitFlow, OttoKit, FlowMattic, & FunnelKit. Also, Rocket .net gets acquired, WordPress org website traffic is up, and we have dates for the 2026 WordCamp Asia and US events.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Testing Hosting’s Support… Christian Taylor and Mike Demo have been working behind the scenes for six months to assess the quality of support for WordPress hosting services. Check this video (YouTube) for the findings as BigScoots, Rocket .net, and Kinsta – did well. But, which hosting(s) experienced notable service failures?
- WP Block Editor Book… Paulo Carvajal, a senior WordPress specialist, has written a comprehensive guide on WordPress Blocks and Editor. WordPress Blocks and Editor book features 14 chapters of practical examples, progressive learning like extending core blocks for building custom implementations and enterprise-grade solutions.
- Simpull Plugins Suite… Justin Sainton shared (LinkedIn) about the Simpull project as a product incubator for the people, “Buy a plugin and you’re part of the incubator itself”. Currently, it has a collection of plugins for Gravity Forms and WooCommerce.
- Idea to Blocks with AI… the team at Automattic shared a new Telex tool, an AI-assisted authoring environment for WordPress blocks. Just write to describe your block idea, and Telex will build a WordPress block for you. Try this!
New Plugins: Cimo, Activity Log, LinkCentral, & FBT
Image Optimization, Cimo Way… Benjamin Intal, creator of Stackable, has released a completely free image optimization and WebP converter called Cimo plugin. So, when you upload a JPEG or PNG image on your WordPress website, it uses your web browser for WebP conversion – no relying on server resources or third-party APIs. Check the preview video by David McCan.
Activity Log Pro… Darren McEntee has released the free Activity Log Pro plugin. It enables you to track user actions, system changes, and security events with a clean UI and GDPR-ready features like IP anonymization and retention controls. There is also a pro version with more features.
LinkCentral on Appsumo… the team at Design for WP has launched LinkCentral on AppSumo. It is a link shortener plugin with built-in QR codes, dynamic redirects, and click tracking for WordPress users.
Bricks Free Templates… Khan has released a free FBT Templates for Bricks Builder plugin, which adds free templates to the Bricks Builder. It also provides access to premium templates, which are clearly labeled in the editor.
New: FluentForms, MaxAddons, Novashare, & SEOPress
Fluent Forms… 6.1.1v introduces a new report module for a deeper look into your form submissions (also in the free version). Also, added a scroll to top option along with terms and conditions, and hide disagree button in conversational forms.
Max Addons for Bricks… 1.16.0v has introduced WooCommerce Product Swatches, which allows you to add variation swatches to product loop or single product pages. Also, added Favorites Button element, allowing visitors to favorite any post or product and build their wishlist.
Novashare New Buttons…1.6.2v update of Novashare has added new buttons for ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity, which link to a prompt that will summarize the shared blog post’s content. Also, added follow button support for Nextdoor.
SEOPress… 9.1v has introduced support for the brand new ChatGPT-5 model to generate SEO metadata based on your post content. Also,a new import feature allows you to migrate global settings from AIOSEO to SEOPress.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Security + Open Alliance… “strong partnerships and alliances are what can have the biggest possible impact in making the web more secure”. Patchstack Alliance Slack Community is open for anyone to join, like folks from security teams of hosting providers, plugin companies, and security companies – for collaboration, incident investigation, and threat intelligence.
- Elementor + Patchstack… Elementor Cloud Hosting customers can now get automated security through their partnership with Patchstack. There is no setup required; the vulnerability scanner runs at the infrastructure level, hence it does not affect website performance and provides around the clock security.
- Hosting Acquisition… Rocket .net is now part of Hosting .com group, Ben Gabler, Rocket .net founder, has been appointed Hosting .com’s Chief Product Officer. Moving forward, the integrated focus will be on hosting.com and its family of brands worldwide, including Rocket .net. Check the interview (YouTube) by Konrad Keck from WebhostingToday for more on this.
- Gutenberg Update… Aki Hamano shared about the 21.5v update, which introduces the new experimental Accordion block, with Accordion content consisting of the trigger and panel. Also, the Command Palette is now available in the Admin Dashboard.
- Next Flagship WordCamps… the next WordCamp Asia, the 2026 edition will happen in Mumbai, India on April 9 – 11, 2026, at the Jio World Convention Centre (JWCC). Also, the next WordCamp US 2026 is headed to Phoenix, Arizona, (Links X), from August 16 – 19, 2026.
- WordCamps Action… check the upcoming WordCamp Gdynia 2025 in Gdynia, Poland, promising 3 days (September 26 -28, 2025) of knowledge, practice, and inspiration. WordCamp Nepal 2026 has been announced and will take place on January 23 – 24, 2026, in Butwal, Nepal, at Manigram Bishram Batika. WordCamp Canada 2025: the full schedule is now available.
- WP Milestones… AI Content Writer, GetGenie AI has crossed the 30,000 active installs milestone in the repository. Adam Silver’s KitchensinkWP podcast has reached its 600th milestone episode, which features Adam Warner from GoDaddy.
Automation: BitFlow, OttoKit, FlowMattic, & FunnelKit
Bit Flows Integrations… 1.5.0v of Bit Flows has added many new integrations for WhatsApp, FluentCRM, ActiveCampaign, Bricks Builder, Mailchimp, and WPUF from weDevs. Now supporting 200+ triggers and actions for unlimited automation.
OttoKit Free Upgrade… the team at OttoKit has upgraded the free plan, which now includes 20 active workflows (up from 5), free multi-step workflows, and new core apps (free forever) – FTP, Crypto, File Extract, File Convert, HTML, and XML.
FlowMattic Integrations… over the past few weeks, many new integrations have been added to FlowMattic, now supporting over 318+ integrations. New integrations for Google Slides, Google Contacts, Google Meet, Google Translate, Google Calendar, Mautic, JetEngine, ActiveCampaign, Calendly, and BrainCert.
FunnelKit… has many new features as part of the Summer 2025 Updates, like special cart addons to highlight exclusive offers like shipping protection, product trials, or limited-time deals. Also, a dynamic reward progress bar, deep integration with WPML & Polylang, and actionable funnel analytics.
New Features: WPML, FluentBooking, & Code Snippets
WPML… with 4.8v update, WPML AI is now called PTC (Private Translation Cloud), which promises human-quality translations at machine speed and cost. It supports over 2500+ language pairs and translates sites holistically (not sentence by sentence like DeepL or Google), ensuring consistent terminology, tone, and meaning.
FluentBooking… 1.9.0v has introduced a new coupon module, which allows you to create coupon codes that let your clients get discounts when they book with you. Also, added the UTM feature for easier tracking of your booking links.
Code Snippets… 3.7v update brings one of the most requested feature of Snippet Conditions for users. It allows you to selectively run snippets based on conditionals, like run on specific page, post, logged-in users, and so on.
Quick Bits 👍
- WPFunnels is launching Creator LMS, 20% off for early adopters.
- Kinsta Homepage has a new cleaner look – a welcome change!
- ShortPixel has launched AI-powered Image SEO functionality.
- Anne McCarthy shared list of folks to hire for your open role.
- Imran Siddiq’s follow-up video on WordPress Cliques Drama.
- Anand shared (Links X) a video on Campus Connect journey.
- WP Accessibility Day 2025: Call for Volunteers is now open.
- WordCamp US Photos: Matt’s Tumblr and WCUS Hashtag on X.
- WP News & Beyond
- “Managed WordPress” trademark bid rejected by USPTO.
- See 2025 progress timeline of Airo Site Designer by GoDaddy.
- Let’s Learn
- How to spot AI writing? Wikipedia explains with actionable info.
- Using AI-powered tools for WP Fusion support & dev pipeline.
- Troy Chaplin on creating cleaner multi-block plugin structure.
- People of WordPress
- Devin Walker is leaving Liquid Web & StellarWP, after 10+ yrs.
- Weston Ruter joins WP Engine for contribution to WP core.
- Aaron D. Campbell joins Monarx Security as VP of Product.
Matt Notes: WP Org traffic, WordCamps, & Keynote
Matt Mullenweg recapped a few important things in the Summer WordPress Update. Traffic to the WordPress .org website is up, and the plugins review queue has been brought down from months to a few days.
Also, shared dates of the upcoming flagship WordCamps in Asia and the USA. Plus, you can watch an hour long keynote and Q&A from the just concluded WordCamp US 2025.
Woo Survey: Finding & Insights for Black Friday prep
Jay Walsh from WooCommerce shared findings of the 2025 merchant survey, based on 249 responses. The website performance optimization (33.4%) has overtaken inventory management (32.6%) as the top Black Friday prep strategy – a reversal from the 2024 trend.
While mobile drives 54.5% of spending, desktop maintains higher conversion rates. Close to 30% are pivoting to subscription models for BFCM 2025, and 75% of $1M+ merchants offer express checkout vs. 40% of smaller merchants.
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