WARNING: You can’t revert once “Smushed”
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I unfortunately got woo’d into using this plugin after watching a video from Neil Patel on YouTube. He was either being paid to pitch the Smush app, or, he was pitching it without fully understanding what the Free version of the app actually did to a website.
What he failed to explain, is that the “Free” version doesn’t save the old files upon “Smushing” them. This means, once the file is “reduced in size” (and any resemblance of quality destroyed), the user cannot then undo the Smushing.
So if you spend weeks or months like most people do crafting and shaping a website and then used this plugin… your website is then destroyed! Fortunately for me, I read on another blog that most hosting sites keep a backup of your WordPress files for at least a few weeks. I’m in the process of recovering that now even though it’s not guaranteed. But what a mess and time suck this plugin has created.
To all users who are considering using this plugin — READ REVIEWS and look at what others have said before downloading this. Google “how to undo Smushed image” and you will see plenty of people with this same issue. The “Pro” version is the only one that allows users to revert, but they don’t tell you this upfront. In fact, this should be in large bold red letters on the front of the plugin before anyone even installs this.
The Smush plugin was clearly only created for people creating low-fi blogs or other web experiences where quality isn’t an issue. But if you’re a designer, photographer, or creative of any kind, STAY AWAY from this plugin like your life depended on it.
Poor user experience, and terrible product. Use this only if you truly don’t care about your image quality or your website.
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Hi @erickfogtman, thank you for addressing my post. I really appreciate you offering to help rectify the situation.
I do however lack trust in both the Smush plugin, and the solution you recommended. When you look at the user ratings for the “reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced” plugin you mentioned, nearly half of the users gave it a “1-star” rating, and their comments were all the same that “it didn’t work.”
For me, this is 2-pronged issue with the Smush plugin. 1), a lack of transparency and communication to the users who are trying it. It should clearly state at the opening of the plugin’s homepage within WordPress, that if you wish to regenerate your original images for *any reason*, that a third-party plugin will be needed. This is a huge miss in UX to me. 2) The feature that the Pro version apparently offers should be offered in the Free version since this should by all account be a UX loop offering an “out” if a user doesn’t like what they see after “Smushing” an image. To download a third party plugin, or, restore a backup from your hosting site is both time consuming, and a huge hassle. A good plugin shouldn’t require this level of work from the user.
This was never about opening a support thread for me, but rather warning others that the basis of the plugin’s “free version” is flawed, and that others should know what they’re getting themselves into before they use this.
We’ve now restored our original site from our hosting provider. But it took 2 days to do.
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