Restricted content is visible to everyone
You set up a restriction in Ultimate Membership Pro, open the page, and the restricted content is still visible. In most cases the plugin is working and the test is the problem. Go through the causes below in order; each one takes a minute to check.
Before you start
- Have a test member account with a known Membership, and a private (incognito) browser window.
You’re logged in as an administrator
Administrators always see everything: pages, Inside Locker sections, menu links and files. This is by design, so you never lock yourself out.
Open the page in a private window to test as a visitor, or log in there with your test member.
The Locker has no member type
A Locker, an Inside Locker or a menu rule with nothing under its member types doesn’t restrict anything.
Edit the page and add at least one member type in the Locker box. See Restrict your first page.
The rule points the other way
Show Page Only lets only the selected member types in. Block Page Only keeps only the selected ones out. Block Page Only for a Membership leaves the page open to everyone else, visitors included.
To keep a page for members, use Show Page Only with their Memberships.
The member type includes the person testing
All means everyone. Registered Users means anyone logged in, with or without a Membership.
Pick the Memberships themselves when only paying members should get in.
An Access Rule doesn’t match
Entire URL rules match the exact link: http or https, www, the trailing slash and any query string all count. Category and post type rules skip the post IDs listed in Excluding.
Copy the link from the address bar into the rule, and check the Excluding field. See Restrict content with Access Rules.
A cache serves an old copy
Page caching (a caching plugin, your host or a CDN) can deliver a saved copy of the page without running the plugin’s check.
Clear the cache after changing a restriction, and exclude members-only pages and logged-in users from page caching.
Restricted posts show up in lists
Show hidden Pages/Posts Titles in listing is on in Ultimate Membership Pro›Settings›Public Workflow. It keeps restricted posts in blog and archive lists even when the visitor can’t open them.
Switch it off to drop restricted posts from lists.
The page is one the plugin keeps open
Some pages are never restricted so that people can always log in and pay: links that contain ultimate-membership-pro, and the Default Redirect Page, which is never redirected to avoid loops.
Don’t put members-only content on the plugin’s own pages. Check them in Ultimate Membership Pro›Settings›Pages Setup.
Still visible?
- Search engine crawlers can be allowed through on purpose: check Authorize Search Engines in Settings › Security.
- Check the test member’s Membership in Members: it must be active for Show rules to let them in, and for Block rules to keep them out.
