WordPress 7.1 “Mary Lou” was released on August 19, 2026. The announcement highlights responsive styling controls, a refreshed media-editing workflow, richer Notes and collaboration features, and new Playlist and Tabs blocks. It also describes performance improvements to image processing.

Plan the upgrade

As with any major WordPress release, check the release notes and test your theme and plugins. Pay particular attention to media uploads, custom editor styles, responsive layouts, and any workflows that rely on collaboration or Notes.

  1. Confirm the current WordPress version and review the official 7.1 notes.
  2. Back up site files and database.
  3. Test the update on staging where available.
  4. After updating, inspect mobile layouts, image editing/upload, and editorial tools.

Not every site will expose every feature in the same way. Theme, plugin, and user-role settings can affect the experience. The linked release announcement is the authoritative source for the feature list and detailed notes.

Source