Store Locator Plus® Spring 2026 Release Notes: Maps, Profiles, and Plugin Updates

Store Locator Plus® Spring 2026 Updates for SaaS and WordPress

We’ve rolled out a new round of updates across the Store Locator Plus® platform covering both our SaaS offering and WordPress plugins. This release window focused on improving map compatibility, cleaning up modern React-based admin experiences, refining subscription behavior, and tightening up several WordPress compatibility details.

If you are a SaaS customer, these improvements are already part of the hosted platform. If you use the WordPress plugins, updating to the latest releases will ensure you get the newest fixes and compatibility improvements.

SaaS Updates

The SaaS platform saw continued work on modernizing account and profile management screens.

My Profile improvements continued during this release window, including updates to the React-based interface and fixes that help components bind more consistently and behave more predictably. We also refined account-status handling so customers with a canceled subscription that still has time remaining are not shown as expired too early.

Subscription and billing workflows also received an important reliability update. Renewals now better respect the remaining active term on subscriptions that were canceled but not yet fully expired. In practice, this helps avoid starting a replacement subscription too early and makes account transitions cleaner.

We also added additional testing hooks and continued internal UI cleanup work around profile-related screens. These updates help us keep improving the SaaS dashboard while moving more of the administrative experience toward faster, more maintainable React-based interfaces.

SaaS highlights:

  • Continued improvements to the React-based My Profile experience
  • Better account-status handling for canceled subscriptions that still have time remaining
  • Subscription renewal timing improvements for not-yet-expired canceled plans
  • Additional internal UI/testing improvements to support ongoing dashboard modernization

WordPress Plugin Updates

All WordPress plugin updates are automatically part of the SaaS platform updates.

For WordPress plugin users, this release included several map and compatibility improvements across the main plugin and add-ons.

A major focus in this window was Google Maps compatibility. Store Locator Plus®, Premier, and Power all received updates related to Google’s newer Advanced Marker system. These changes were followed by additional patches to make marker behavior more reliable across admin and front-end experiences. The goal here is simple: keep maps working smoothly as the Google Maps platform evolves.

We also improved how Google Maps assets are loaded and configured. That includes refinements to script enqueue behavior, updates to map-related dependencies, and better handling of map domain and country support settings. These changes help reduce edge-case failures and improve consistency across different WordPress environments.

Another useful WordPress improvement in this cycle was expanded Google Maps country support. The country list was updated to reflect a much broader set of supported countries, helping site owners working in more regions configure maps more accurately.

WordPress highlights:

  • Google Maps Advanced Marker compatibility updates across core and add-ons
  • Follow-up patches to improve marker stability and map behavior
  • Improved Google Maps loading and dependency handling
  • Expanded country support for Google Maps configuration
  • React admin rendering updates to reduce deprecation issues
  • Premier map fallback fixes and general maintenance cleanup

Admin and Interface Refinements

This release also continued our effort to modernize older admin interfaces.

In the WordPress plugin stack, some React-powered administrative modules were updated to use newer rendering patterns. That reduces deprecation warnings and helps keep the codebase aligned with newer WordPress and React expectations.

On the SaaS side, we continued that same modernization path in customer-facing admin screens. While much of this work is structural, the user-facing benefit is a more consistent and reliable dashboard experience over time.

Fixes and Stability Improvements

Several smaller but meaningful fixes also landed in this release window.

For Store Locator Plus® core, we improved script enqueue handling to better account for edge cases in WordPress behavior. We also resolved issues around incorrect script registration timing and cleaned up related loading logic.

For Premier, a center-map fallback setting issue was fixed, helping map displays behave more consistently when certain location or viewport data is unavailable.

Across the codebase, we also completed compatibility and maintenance work such as PHPDoc cleanup, versioning updates, and dependency refreshes. These changes are mostly behind the scenes, but they help us keep the products stable and easier to maintain as WordPress, React, and Google Maps continue to change.

What You Need To Do

SaaS customers do not need to do anything. These updates are already part of the hosted platform.

WordPress plugin users should update the core Store Locator Plus® plugin and any active add-ons, especially if you rely on advanced map behavior, Premier pagination and map features, or Power reporting/admin tools.

As always, if you spot anything unexpected after updating, please reach out through our contact form. Real-world usage reports help us prioritize the next round of improvements.

Image by piviso from Pixabay

Resolved – Settings Being Reset After Updates

Over the past 6 months or so we’ve been working with customers to resolve an issue where updating Store Locator Plus® would reset some (not all) settings. This was especially prevalent with our WordPress plugin users. With the latest 2511.08.XX release we believe we’ve finally put this issue to rest.

For some users, when they would update the base Store Locator Plus® WordPress plugin they would lose some settings. One of the settings we noticed on one of our test boxes was the Google Maps API key being reset. The full list of possible settings that could be impacted are shown here:

broadcast_timestamp => 0
default_country => us
extended_data_tested => 0
map_language => en
next_field_id => 1
next_field_ported => 
premium_user_id => 
premium_subscription_id => 
radius_behavior => always_use
slplus_plugindir => /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/store-locator-plus/
slplus_basename => store-locator-plus/store-locator-plus.php
themes_last_updated => 0
active_style_css => div#map img {...more CSS...
admin_notice_dismissed => 0
invalid_query_message => We did not receive a valid JSONP response.
radii => 10,25,50,100,(200),500
searchlayout => ...HTML...
hide_address_entry => 0
hide_radius_selector => 0
label_radius => Within
label_search => Address / Zip
map_height => 480
map_height_units => px
map_width => 100
map_width_units => %
remove_credits => 0
maplayout => ...HTML...
initial_results_returned => 25
max_results_returned => 25
message_bad_address => Could not locate this address. Please try a different location.
message_no_results => No locations found.
instructions => Enter an address or zip code and click the find locations button.
label_hours => Hours
label_image => Image
theme => a_gallery_style
style_id => 
layout => ...HTML...
log_schedule_messages => 0
google_geocode_key => AI...HY
google_server_key => AI...HY
url_control_description => 

Location Import Fixed (WordPress plugins only)

One of our users reported an issue where their location import stopped working after updating the Power add on to a new release. This was never an issue for our SaaS users given the strict nature of the directory configuration, WordPress version, and PHP version running on that platform.

If a user downloads a new version of the Power add on (a zip file) and already has a prior version of the slp-power.zip file in the download directory on their laptop, the browser may create a new file named slp-power-2.zip without direct notification or confirmation it has done so.

If the user uploads this file to the WordPress installation it will create a NEW installation of the Power plugin at ./wp-content/plugins/slp-power-2/. This may or may not reside alongside a version of the older installation at ./wp-content/plugins/slp-power/ which is the standard installation path.

Even if a user deactivates and deletes the existing Power add on , which is best practice, before uploading the new slp-power-2.zip , the new path for the plugin will not match the prior path.

This causes the JavaScript for location imports included in the Power add on to not be loaded.

While some users may still encounter this issue depending on how their servers are configured (WordPress version, PHP version, and other variables can impact how the plugins behave).

There is a patch out in the latest version of the Store Locator Plus® WordPress plugin v2511.05.01 and Power add on v2511.05.01 that make this process less fragile. That will alleviate issues on some server configurations, but best practices should still be followed when updating plugins.

Premier users can login to their account at the SLP WordPress plugin store, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the downloads link to get the latest versions of all SLP plugins.

Tired of dealing with plugin version issues, server issues, and Google API billings? Try the Store Locator Plus SaaS edition. It works with WordPress, no plugins required, as well as most other online presence services including Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, and others.