Stealth Update
Adds the ability to update a post without having WordPress automatically update the post's post_modified timestamp.
5(5 reviews)
·100 active installs·Updated 9 years agoAs of April 2026, Stealth Update is a WordPress post plugin with 100 active installations and a 5/5 rating from 5 reviews. It has been downloaded 7.1K+ times in total. Requires WordPress 3.6+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2010. Last updated 9 years ago — may have compatibility concerns. Top alternative: Header and Footer Scripts.
5/55 reviews
100active installs
7.1K+total downloads
16 yearssince 2010
Overview
This plugin allows you to choose to update a post without having WordPress automatically update the post’s post_modified timestamp.
WordPress maintains a post field called post_modified which tracks the date the post was last edited. This value is used by feeds to indicate the latest update to each post or to report the latest updated post. Plugins and themes may also reference the post modification date to call attention to posts that have been updated. However, if an update is such that you don’t want it to be recorded in the post_modified date field (perhaps due to the update being a small formatting/editing change or fixing a typo, or if you just want to keep quiet about an update), then this plugin is for you.
This plugin adds a “Stealth update?” checkbox to t…
Screenshots
Ratings & Reviews
55 reviews
5 ★
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Compatibility
| WordPress | 3.6+ requiredTested up to 4.5.33 |
| PHP | false+ required |
Top Alternatives to Stealth Update
Frequently Asked Questions
Changelog
2.5 (2016-03-25)
Highlights:
* This release adds the ability to set the stealth update checkbox via the quick edit box, adds a lock icon next to the post date in the admin listing to denote a post has stealth update enabled, adds support for language packs, and has some minor behind-the-scenes changes.
Details:
* New: Add ability to set the ‘Stealth Update?’ value in the Quick Edit form.
* Add add_to_submitbox(), add_to_quick_edit(), admin_enqueue_scripts().
* Add option arg $checked to add_ui() and use its value as the default if not null.
* Props ecdltf.
* New: Add lock icon next to post’s date column in posts table to indicate which posts have stealth update enabled.
* Bugfix: Don’t bother operating on newly created posts since their saving isn’t an update.
* Change: Delete meta key on save if stealth update is not enabled for post.
* Change: Don’t unnecessarily set hidden field with original post_modified value.
* Change: Run esc_attr() on the field name before display for safety.
* Change: Don’t run esc_attr() on meta key name as it need not be so restrictive (and isn’t for display).
* Change: Add support for language packs:
* Set textdomain using a string instead of a variable.
* Don’t load textdomain from file.
* Remove ‘Domain Path’ from plugin header.
* Remove .pot file and /lang subdirectory.
* Change: Add docblocks for class variables.
* New: Add LICENSE file.
* New: Add empty index.php to prevent files from being listed if web server has enabled directory listings.
* Change: Add docblock to example code.
* Change: Note compatibility through WP 4.5+.
* Change: Update copyright date (2016).
Contributors
Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.