Disable Automatic Updates in WordPress Alternatively, you can disable automatic updates in WordPress by adding this line of code in your wp-config.php file: 1 define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE' , false ); 1 add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin' , '__return_false' ); Disable automatic WordPress theme updates: 1 add_filter( 'auto_update_theme' , '__return_false' );