The paid theme I use ([Physio – Physical Therapy & Medical Clinic WP Theme](https://themeforest.net/item/physio-physical-therapy-medical-clinic-wp-theme/14747135)) came prepackaged with Advanced Custom Fields Pro. My license has lapsed and the theme creator says renewal of the subscription is only necessary for premium support, which I do not need.
One drawback is that the ACF Pro subscription also expires, which means I cannot automatically update the plugin. A major problem I have noticed is that I do not get a warning if an ACF Pro update is available unless I go into the plugin page. If an update is available and I do not notice, my scheduled posts fail to post. This causes a major problem with my marketing emails when I send out an email about a new post and then users get a 404. I go into my WP Admin and notice that the scheduled post failed, and that’s when I notice there’s an update for ACF Pro.
Is there anyway to automate the ACF Pro plugin updates without having to buy a license? Is there a flag I can set in my theme/functions file?
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To answer your question – no.
You can of course, deactivate ACF Pro and revert to the free version – [https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/)
You don’t need a “subscription” if ACF Pro came with the theme. Updates for themes purchased on ThemeForest don’t lapse – they’re perpetual. Install the Envato Market plugin so that updates from TF flow into your site like regular plugins. Once installed, updates will appear on your dashboard.
Your scheduled posts would not be failing because there’s a pending plugin update. Something else must be going on.
Wordfence will send you emails notifying you if available updates. And it helps keep you nice and secure.