Troubleshooting

Solutions to common questions and issues with ID Maintenance Mode.

I enabled maintenance mode but visitors still see the live site

This is almost always a caching issue. The plugin purges caches from several major hosts and plugins when you toggle the setting, but your specific cache may not be covered. Try:

1. Clearing your hosting provider’s cache manually (from their dashboard or plugin).
2. Clearing any CDN cache (Cloudflare, Sucuri, etc.).
3. Visiting the site in an incognito/private browser window to confirm the maintenance page appears.

I see the maintenance page but my client doesn’t (or vice versa)

The bypass link sets a cookie in the client’s browser. Check:

• Did the client actually click the bypass link? They need to visit it once to set the cookie.
• Has the 7-day cookie expired? Share the link again.
• Did you regenerate the bypass key? This invalidates all previous cookies. Share the new link.
• Is the client using a different browser or device? Cookies are per-browser.

I can’t access the admin after enabling maintenance mode

Maintenance mode never blocks the WordPress admin area, login page, AJAX, or REST API. If you can’t access the admin, the issue is not related to this plugin. Check your hosting, other plugins, or .htaccess file.

The maintenance page doesn’t show my latest changes

Make sure you clicked Save Changes after editing. Also check for browser caching — try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R). The plugin sends no-cache headers, but some browsers can be stubborn.

The background image doesn’t cover the full page

The image is displayed with background-size: cover and background-position: center. If the image is too small, it may appear pixelated on large screens. Use an image that is at least 1920 pixels wide for best results.

My content text is hard to read over the background image

Try setting a Content Block Background color (the default white works well). This places your text inside a semi-opaque container. If you’ve set it to transparent, the text sits directly over the background image, which may cause readability issues depending on the image.

Search engines are deindexing my site during maintenance

The maintenance page returns a 503 status code with a Retry-After header, which tells search engines the outage is temporary. If you’re seeing deindexing, check that:

• Maintenance mode hasn’t been active for an extended period (weeks). While 503 is temporary, prolonged outages may still affect rankings.
• No other plugin or server configuration is returning a different status code.

Can I use this with the ID Admin Toolkit?

Yes. The ID Admin Toolkit includes an identical Maintenance Mode module. However, you should not activate both the standalone plugin and the toolkit’s Maintenance Mode module at the same time. The toolkit automatically detects the standalone plugin and skips its own module if the standalone version is active.

Will my settings be lost if I deactivate?

No. Deactivating the plugin disables maintenance mode but preserves all your settings, content, and bypass key. Reactivating the plugin restores everything. Settings are only deleted if you fully delete (uninstall) the plugin from the Plugins page.