8.6 Release Notes

This WHMCS version reached End-of-Life status on October 31st, 2023.

Release Highlights

WHMCS 8.6 includes features to help you easily find and activate payment gateways, get ready for upcoming requirements for Microsoft® email services, and keep your installation safe and secure with PHP 8.1.

Learn about the newest features and most important updates in our 8.6 Release Highlights.

Version History

Latest UpdateVersionRelease Type
06-20-20238.6.2General Availability (Security)
11-30-20228.6.1General Availability (Maintenance)
11-03-20228.6.0General Availability
10-06-20228.6.0Release Candidate
09-07-20228.6.0Beta

Upgrade Requirements

Before upgrading through this WHMCS version, make certain that your system meets the following requirements:

DependencyMinimum RequirementRecommended
ionCube® LoaderionCube Loader 10.2.0ionCube Loader 10.4.3
MySQL®MySQL 5.2MySQL 8.0
PHPPHP 7.2PHP 7.4

New Features

OAuth2 Support for Microsoft® Services

If you use Microsoft’s mail services, our newly-enhanced configuration options allow you to comply with Microsoft’s upcoming requirements for OAuth2 authentication. This includes any Microsoft service that is compatible with Microsoft Azure® apps, like Hotmail®, Microsoft Outlook®, Microsoft 365®, and several others. OAuth2 offers enhanced security and replaces traditional password-based authentication.

  • You can configure Microsoft services for email importing at Configuration () > System Settings > Support Departments.
  • You can configure Microsoft services as your WHMCS installation’s mail provider at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings in the Mail tab.

Learn more…

PHP 8.1 Support

WHMCS now supports PHP 8.1 for WHMCS 8.6 and higher. If you want to move to PHP 8.1, make certain that you update to WHMCS 8.6 before updating PHP.

Our support for PHP 8.1 requires ionCube Loader® 12. Due to limitations in ionCube’s support, we are unable to officially support PHP 8.0.

Learn more…

Updates and Improvements

Activate Payment Gateways via Apps & Integrations

You can now only activate new payment gateways through the list of modules at Configuration () > Apps & Integrations. This makes it easier to view the full list of all of our available and recommended payment gateway modules.

After you activate a payment gateway, you can configure it in the newly-streamlined list at Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways. This list will continue to display all of your activated payment gateways and their configuration options.

Learn more…

Removals

Removed Modules

Updating to WHMCS 8.6 will attempt to remove the following discontinued modules if they are not actively in use:

  • ChronoPay
  • e-onlinedata
  • PayPal Express Checkout (deprecated in WHMCS 7.9 and later)

After the update, you can check the Activity Log section at Configuration () > System Logs for a list of removals.

For Developers

Template Changes

For a list of changed files and a graphical view of the exact changes, see the GitHub® repositories below:

Last modified: October 31, 2024