New release: JReviews 6.3.0 and 5.10.0

We just shipped a big update to both editions of JReviews at once: JReviews 6.3.0 (Early Access) and JReviews 5.10.0 (stable). Both editions get the same new spam protection and the shared addon improvements below. The reimagined Early Access designs are part of JReviews 6.

Stop spam submissions, automatically

Spam submissions create moderation work and drag down the quality of your directory. This release adds built in protection to every guest facing form in JReviews: listing submissions, reviews, comments, inquiries, abuse reports, and media uploads. Behind the scenes it combines rate limiting, hidden bot traps, and duplicate detection to quietly turn away automated junk before it ever reaches your moderation queue.

There is nothing to configure. Update, and your forms are protected. Guest resource submissions in the Listing Resources addon are covered too.

EngageUsers, reimagined and more beautiful than ever

The modern JReviews 6 experience keeps expanding in Early Access, and this release is a big step forward for engagement. The engagement addon you already know has been rebuilt on the modern JReviews 6 design.

The activity stream is cleaner and easier to navigate, it scrolls smoothly and endlessly through long feeds, and our favorite new touch: photos and videos now open in an elegant lightbox right inside the stream, so your members can enjoy media without ever leaving the feed. The new design keeps what you rely on, including follow management, a notification inbox and site bell, and delivery by email, Slack, digests, and web and mobile push notifications.

See the reimagined activity stream in action on our live demo.

More of the JReviews 6 experience, modernized

The My Account area, Paid Plans page, User Lists, and Resources pages have all been redesigned in the same modern style, along with a modern Related Comments widget. The new account area also lets members cancel a paid subscription in a few clicks, for both Paid Listings and Stripe, which means fewer support requests for you. And in JReviews 6, order and listing emails now send through a durable background queue, so email keeps flowing even during busy periods.

Early Access features are optional in JReviews 6, so you can switch them on whenever you are ready. See it all live on our demos: the Joomla demo and the WordPress demo.

Improvements everyone gets

These land in both JReviews 6.3.0 and 5.10.0:

• Listings shortcodes on WordPress can now match any of several custom field values, not only all of them. For example, a single shortcode can list every property that has a pool, a gym, or parking, instead of only the ones that offer all three.
• Timezone aware reporting. The Dashboard now reports in your site timezone, so your daily and weekly numbers line up with your own business day instead of drifting a day off in UTC.

Know your site is running smoothly with JReviews Logs

JReviews Logs, in both editions, give you a clear running record of what your site is doing, built right into your admin. Open your JReviews Control Panel, go to Browse, then Logs.

Most of the time this is simply peace of mind: a quick look shows you that things are working and lets you catch anything unusual early. If you take payments, this release records every incoming PayPal and Stripe webhook, on both editions, capturing the full payload behind each order and subscription event, so when a payment question comes up the whole record is already there. In JReviews 6, a new Logs channel also records background email delivery, so you can confirm your order and notification emails are going out.

And when something does go wrong, Logs turn guesswork into a quick fix. This release expands what Logs capture to include errors from interactive, on page actions on both Joomla and WordPress, the kind of thing that used to fail silently with no trace. The error is now recorded with useful diagnostic detail, so if you open a support ticket you can copy the entry, paste it in, and we can get to the answer much faster.

This release also includes a long list of fixes across galleries, media handling, search, forms, and both the Joomla and WordPress integrations.

Ready to move up to JReviews 6?

If you are on JReviews 5, you can upgrade to JReviews 6 using JReviews Deploy and keep working as usual. Your listings, reviews, and settings come with you, and your existing layout stays in place after the upgrade.

Then, whenever you are ready, turn on Early Access for specific parts of your site to preview the new designs and start using the new functionality at your own pace. It is not all or nothing: you can adopt the modern experience one area at a time, see how it looks and works on your own site, and roll it out on your schedule.

Update today

Open the JReviews AppStore inside your admin area and update to the latest version, 6.3.0 for JReviews 6 or 5.10.0 for JReviews 5. All of your addons are ready to update alongside it.

Full Changelogs

For a comprehensive overview of all new features, bug fixes, and improvements, you can read the full changelogs.