New and Improved GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin from WebToffee

WebToffee has launched a new updated version 3.x.x, an enhanced version of the legacy GDPR for Cookie Consent plugin 2.6.6 or earlier.

As part of our ongoing commitment to quality, the latest update introduces significant security and performance enhancements, ensuring greater reliability and faster execution across environments.

• Security and performance enhancements.
• We’ve modernized the user interface and underlying codebase to meet current WordPress development standards, resulting in a cleaner, more maintainable architecture.
• This release also brings improved compatibility with essential compliance frameworks, such as Google Consent Mode v2 and Microsoft UET, supporting evolving privacy requirements.
• To ensure better security and follow WordPress best practices, the script input field that existed under each category in the legacy version has been removed in the new plugin.
• Additionally, WCAG accessibility has been prioritized with thoughtful improvements.

By installing the new plugin, you can do:

• Easier cookie scanning and categorization.
• Automatic script blocking.
• Enhanced multilingual and accessibility support.
• Support for Google & Microsoft Consent Modes.
• Improved user interface for site admins.
• Better reporting and consent logging.

The new GDPR features introduce a more streamlined and structured setup, which may differ significantly from the legacy system. To provide a clean, conflict-free configuration experience, we will not be migrating settings from the legacy version to the revamped GDPR module. This approach ensures optimal performance and compatibility with the latest enhancements. The legacy plugin is scheduled to reach its end-of-life on July 31, 2025.

Please note that configuration settings from the legacy version will not be migrated automatically to the revamped GDPR plugin. We strongly recommend setting up the revamped plugin on a staging site first to verify your configuration before going live. For step-by-step instructions, refer to our setup guide for the revamped version.

• Activation

The admins can use their existing activation key to activate the new plugin. The activation key will remain active until the expiry date.

• Scanning

As a first step, after installing the new plugin, administrators must activate it. Then they must initiate a new site-wide scan from the Manage cookies tab.

• Cookie categorization

When you run a cookie scan from the plugin dashboard, it crawls your website pages and detects all cookies being set by scripts and services. If a detected cookie matches an entry in the dictionary, the plugin automatically assigns the correct category (e.g., analytics or marketing). If no match is found, the cookie is placed into the “Others” category for manual review. Admins must manually categorize cookies that don’t have a match in the cookie dictionary.

• Script Blocking

The plugin automatically identifies and blocks many common third-party scripts (like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.) using predefined patterns. There is no direct UI feature to show “which scripts are missed,” but you can check browser developer tools (Network/Console) to see if any tracking requests are still firing after consent is denied.

When the plugin cannot automatically block a specific script, you must add a script-blocking pattern under Manage cookies > Add new cookie. Follow the steps mentioned in the article: Manually block scripts , to block scripts manually.

• Laws

The admins have to re-enable the required laws from the new plugin.

• Language

The admins must reselect the language for their banner. If multiple languages are used, then they must be set accordingly. The default language can also be set from the Language tab. Follow the steps mentioned in the article : Change the Cookie banner language, for adding multiple languages.

• Cookie Policy

The Cookie Policy page needs to be edited and republished.

• Banner customization

The banner customizations you had previously made will not be migrated, and you will need to reset the banner content, banner type, and other customizations from the Cookie banner tab. Refer to the documentation articles for some excellent banner customization examples.

• Shortcodes

The old shortcodes no longer work in the new version. If you have included shortcodes in your customization, then check and update the newly revamped shortcodes from the article: Custom Shortcodes in GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin.

• Consent reports

The older consent reports will not be exported to the new plugin. So after migration, the users have to re-consent to their data sharing preferences. This will add new consent reports.

• The users have to re-consent their data-sharing preferences after the latest plugin is installed.
• The newly generated consent reports will be added to the Consent report tab.