Manual Update.

You can always update Reward Loyalty by downloading the latest version from the current purchase store and installing it manually. This is useful when:

• Your support license has expired (one-click updates require active support)
• Your hosting provider disables the exec() PHP function (common on shared hosting)
• You prefer manual control over the update process

Remember: updates themselves are free forever. You're just installing them yourself instead of using the automated system.

Before You Start

Back up everything. Download your entire installation before making changes, especially your .env file, everything in public/files/, and your database/database.sqlite file if using SQLite.

Update Steps

Option A: Staging Environment (Recommended)

This approach keeps your production site running while you prepare the update.

1. Upload the new version to a temporary subdomain (like staging.yourdomain.com).

2. Copy your data from your current production installation to the staging installation:

Your .env file contains your environment configuration. The public/files/ directory contains all user uploads. If you use SQLite, copy database/database.sqlite as well. MySQL and MariaDB users don't need to copy anything since the database is external.

To see hidden files like .env on macOS, press Cmd + Shift + . in Finder.

3. Run database migrations by logging in as admin at /en-us/admin/. If migrations are pending, you'll see a message: "An update is required for your database. Click here to apply the update." You can also run php artisan migrate --force via command line.

4. Clear caches by running php artisan optimize:clear or through your admin dashboard.

5. Test everything. Verify login works, member data is intact, uploaded files display, and points and rewards are accurate.

6. Switch to production by updating your DNS to point your main domain to the staging installation, or rename directories if both are on the same server.

Option B: In-Place Update

If you prefer not to use a staging subdomain:

1. Back up everything as described above.

2. Delete or move all files on the server to a backup folder.

3. Upload the new version from the public_html folder in the product zip.

4. Restore your data by copying back your .env file, your public/files/ contents, and database/database.sqlite if using SQLite.

5. Run migrations and clear cache as described above.

The new version includes an empty public/files/ directory. Depending on your upload method, this may overwrite your existing uploads. Always back up first and restore after.

Protecting Custom Files

When updating manually, you'll need to back up and restore any custom files yourself. To ensure these same files are also protected during one-click updates, add them to your .env file:

PROTECTED_TRANSLATIONS="de_DE,fr_FR"
PROTECTED_PATHS="custom/branding/"

See What Gets Preserved for the complete list of core protected paths and detailed information on protecting custom files.

Consider One-Click Updates

Manual updates work, but one-click updates are faster and handle backups for you. If you're on VPS hosting with exec() available, renewing support enables automatic updates with a single click.