This article describes what the WordPress heartbeat is, how it can affect site performance, and how you can configure it.
The “heartbeat” feature enables WordPress to monitor user actions and send periodic updates to the web server. The heartbeat is used to save drafts automatically, lock post edits, log out administrators after an idle period, and more.
However, in some scenarios the heartbeat may send an excessive amount of requests to the server. When this occurs, site performance can suffer. For example, CPU loads may increase, or you may receive “The Connection Has Been Reset” messages in your browser.
By default, WordPress does not provide a way to disable or change the heartbeat settings. However, you can install a plugin to do this.
The easiest way to configure the WordPress heartbeat is to use a plugin. The Heartbeat Control plugin enables you to quickly and easily do this.
To install the Heartbeat Control plugin, follow these steps:
After you install the Heartbeat plugin, you can configure it. To do this, follow these steps:
In the Override heartbeat frequency list box, select the interval for the heartbeat “ping” messages that the browser sends to the server.
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