Short answer: WordPress 7.1 Release Candidate 1 shipped on August 5, 2026, and the final stable version is set to launch August 19, timed with WordCamp US in Phoenix. If you’re wondering what’s actually new and whether you should be testing it now, here’s the real breakdown.

When does the final release actually land

RC1 is the last major testing checkpoint before release — at this stage, the feature set is locked, and updates between now and launch are mostly bug fixes rather than new functionality. WordPress 7.1’s stable release is scheduled for August 19, 2026, releasing alongside WordCamp US.

What’s actually new in 7.1

A few changes stand out as genuinely useful for day-to-day site management, not just developer-facing additions:

  • Icons API — a proper system for registering icons and icon collections, meant to standardize what’s currently a patchwork of different icon-handling approaches across themes and plugins
  • Configurable speculative-loading defaults — more control over how WordPress prefetches and prerenders internal links, building on the Speculation Rules API introduced in an earlier release
  • Email notifications for @mentions in Notes — useful for teams collaborating on drafts, since it closes the loop on the block-comment feature without needing to check back manually
  • Shareable revision links — a direct link to a specific revision, useful for getting sign-off on a particular draft version without walking someone through the revision history UI
  • Media Library infinite scrolling is now the default (with a per-user opt-out), replacing the older paginated grid

On the developer side, the release also introduces an Abilities API, SVG Icon API, and new DataViews/DataForm/View Config APIs — worth a closer look if you build plugins or heavily customize the admin experience, less relevant if you’re just running a site day to day.

What didn’t make it into this release

Worth knowing if you were expecting them: the classic block, real-time collaboration, and the “On This Day” widget were all left out of 7.1. Real-time collaboration in particular had been discussed as a headline feature for WordPress 7.0 originally before being delayed — it’s still not landed as of 7.1.

Should you install the Release Candidate now

Only on a staging or test environment — never on a live, production site. RC status means the feature set is stable enough for public testing, but WordPress itself is explicit that this isn’t meant for mission-critical sites yet. If you manage client sites or a business-critical site, the right move is testing 7.1 on staging now, checking plugin and theme compatibility, and holding off on the live update until the stable release on August 19 (or a few days after, once any early post-launch patches have settled).

What to do between now and launch

If you’re not planning to test the RC directly, the practical prep is simpler: check that your active plugins and theme have confirmed 7.1 compatibility as launch approaches, and make sure your site is already current on the 7.0.3 security update — that’s unrelated to this feature release, but worth having in place regardless before any major version update.