Over 80% of websites use PHP and with that in mind, keeping your site secure is extremely important. The PHP community actively supports each new PHP version for two years following the initial stable release. At the end of the two-year active support, each receives an additional year of critical security issues updates.
At this time, both PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0 are quickly reaching the end of their extended security support. WordPress statistics indicate that 5.6 and 7.0 are currently in use on over 50% of WordPress sites.
– PHP 5.6 will not be supported for critical security updates after 31 December 2018.
– PHP 7.0 will not be supported for critical security updates after 3 December 2018.
QiQ recommends preparing for an upgrade by testing your site for compatibility with the newer versions. You can switch between the various versions, including the latest 7.2 release, within your hosting control panel by logging in at https://cpanel.insert-your-domain-name.com or via https://www.qiq.support.
Critical security updates are an essential part of protecting your business on the web. Don’t leave your site vulnerable to attacks. Additionally, the newer PHP versions are far superior in speed, performance and efficiency.
To assist you in preparing for an upgrade, a WordPress plugin, PHP Compatibility Checker, is available: https://wordpress.org/plugins/php-compatibility-checker/.
The best reference for PHP versions is https://secure.php.net/supported-versions.php – this details what is supported and planned end-of-life.
If sites have not been updated, QiQ will automatically update sites from PHP 5.6 and 7.0 to 7.2 automatically from 20 January 2019 onwards.