ACF License

Hi,

since ACF stopped the collaboration with Theme.co, I’ve purchased a separate ACF license. But the license-page in the plugin is not showing on websites that run Pro, so their’s no way to input the license.
Is there going to be an update soon that enables the license-page?

We’re sending out the ACF Pro update today on our end. Your account was created before April 1st 2024 so you don’t necessarily need a license key unless you want to go off their package system.

If you have a license key from ACF Pro you’d rather use. You can add the following in your Child theme and it will ignore our system to send you the updates. We’ve been going through the ACF updates more thoroughly since their licensing changed just to make sure we’re all good. Have a great day.

define('ACF_PRO_LICENSE', 'your-license-key');

Hi @charlie,

that was quick, thanks!
I’ve added my license key, but the ACF->Updates page in the admin area is still not active, and the most recent plugin-update is not showing either.

Hi @dhunink,

Can you please provide login credentials for your site in a secure note to examine it further, including:

– WordPress Site URL & Login URL
– WordPress Admin username/password

To create a secure note, click the key icon underneath any of your posts.

Thanks

Added a secure note to the initial post

Hi @dhunink,

Unfortunately, the given credentials are not working. Can you please check and send it once again ?

Thanks

my bed, it should be working now.

I’ve also asked ACF support, here’s their response:

It appears that Theme Co Pro-theme is most likely running a bundled copy of the plugin which is preventing the installed copy from running as expected and thereby hiding the ACF license page. To sort this out you will need to get in touch with the theme developer and make sure that the bundled copy only runs if ACF pro is not installed explicitly, https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/resources/how-to-include-acf-in-a-plugin-or-theme/#detecting-if-the-acf-plugin-is-installed

Try this and let us know the feedback you get from them.

Hey There,

This PHP code can be added in your Snippet:

// Add back ACF License Functionality
// =============================================================================
define('ACF_PRO_LICENSE', false);
remove_action( 'init', 'x_acf_pro_remove_license_functionality', 100);

You should be able to get back the license functionality of the ACF plugin.

Cheers.

Thanks, I’ll try that. But will that also migrate me from the bundled ACF plugin towards the stand-along ACF-plugin?

Hello @dhunink,

Since you have an ACF license, you will now have the stand-alone ACF plugin.

Cheers.

Hi @ruenel,

thanks. It partially works: ACF->Updates page is now available. But updates still don’t show in the regular WP Updates page, which is the page where ACF->Updates will guide you to when you click ‘update’. So I’m still not able to update to the latest ACF version.

I also think it’s worth thinking this through one step further. I run about 15 websites; adding this snippet to each one of them is undesirable. But thinking further, wouldn’t it be worth to alter the default bundled plugin-version, since the deal between ACF and Theme.co broke, and alter the bundled plugin so it enables entering a valid license key by default and enabling full real time updates again, when a license key has been entered?

We have to enable updates in that page when you define ACF_PRO_LICENSE and will do so in the next release. Adding a snippet to your child theme is what was provided by ACF to do. All users created prior to April 1st 2024 are going to continue to get updates from us.

Thanks for enabling this in the next release!
I know I will continue to receive updates, but I really want to switch from the bundled to the standalone version. I have WordPress auto-updates enabled, so all websites are always up to date, but the system keeps spamming me about being unable to update ACF while there is an updated version available.

I know your team tests ACF releases before updating the bundled version, but I really think I should switch to the standalone version and thereby always be on the latest version, so the amount of e-mails stating ‘unable to update’ decreases.
But…i’m always open to suggestions. If there’s a way to always have the latest version installed, without the need of entering my license key, that would be more than perfect!

You are most welcome, @dhunink.
If ever we come up with the best way to have the standalone version, we’ll announce it in the changelog.

Hi @ruenel,
I think you misunderstood me. My issue is not yet resolved.
Even with the steps we’ve taken so far, ACF is still not updates as soon as ACF release a new version. I do need to happen, to stop the e-mails of WP saying ‘failed to update’ stop. How do we achieve that?

Let us know if you have an issue with this in 6.4.20. We updated the packaging around this issue. Have a great day.

Hi @charlie,

I really appreciate that you thought about my topic and announced the update there!
Just installed it on all my 20+ websites, and I’ll report my findings in the next couple of days.
Thanks again!

1 Like

Hi @charlie,

I’m still not able to enter a license key for ACF, and WordPress is still sending e-mails saying ‘updating ACF failed’. So I’m afraid the issue is persistent.

Hi @dhunink,

I have just checked edit.php?post_type=acf-field-group&page=acf-settings-updates and didn’t find the license key added. Can you please check by adding it once, and also create a screen-captured video to understand what exactly happens at your end?

Thanks

That’s actually very helpful.
By default, the ‘updates’ sub-menu wasn’t available. But after I visited that url, it was.
I just double-checked with one other of may websites I manage, and the same happened. So I guess there’s a small bug there which hides the ‘updates’ page, until it’s visited by entering the correct url directly.

Having said that, the original issue still persists. Despite a License key has been entered now, no update is shown on wp-admin->updates. But ACF->Updates reveals there is actually a newer version available.