WordPress 5.5 introduced the ability to configure specific themes or plugins to update automatically when updates are posted to the WordPress Themes and Plugins Directories. This feature is turned off by default. You have to go to your theme or plugin dashboard to enable it. You can choose to auto-update all plugins or select the ones you want to auto-update.
One of the key pieces of advice we give our WordPress clients is always to keep your theme and plugins up to date. As part of our WordPress monthly Care Plans, we verify and deploy updates within twenty-four hours of their release. Given that, it would seem a no-brainer to turn auto-updates on right?
Turns out, the answer is not a simple yes or no. It depends on the nature of your site and how you manage it. The folks at Wordfence wrote a pretty comprehensive overview back in August that we recommend reading if you are considering using this WordPress feature. The article gives a good overview of the pros and cons of unattended updates and it has profiles of the use cases based on different types of sites.
So have you considered or are you using auto-updates for your WordPress site?