WordPress thinks my PHP is older version

https://www.essentialprod.com

@jerrymayalor555: Most servers won’t announce their PHP version for security concerns.

@cinbrandon: To confirm what version of PHP your server is actually running (and WordPress is thus using), create a phpinfo file (I’m assuming you don’t have shell access).

1. Open cPanel’s File Manager, navigate to public_html (or wherever your WordPress files are located)
2. Create a new empty file, call it, say, check.php (the name can be anything, but the extension must be .php)
3. Open the file in code editor in the browser and add just this one line <?php phpinfo(); ?> and save it.

Now visit this URL in your browser https://www.essentialprod.com/check.php

If all goes well, you should see a page like the one below, with the PHP version your server is running at the very top.

What PHP version do you see?

thanks. I did get a page like the one above.
“PHP Version 5.6.40”

“PHP Version 5.6.40”

This page is generated by your server, and not WordPress. So you better believe what it’s saying ??

So it’s not WordPress merely “thinking” you have 5.6.40 — your server has multiple versions of PHP, but the active one for your site is indeed 5.6.40 — and WordPress is merely using (and reporting) this.

Now, send the test link as evidence to your hosting provider — GoDaddy — that your site is still on PHP 5.6.40 despite what their control panel says, and have them fix the issue for you.

This is a server configuration issue, and since all the suggestions made so far have failed to fix the problem, your hosting provider that manages the server are the ones who can help you resolve this.

Thank you! I’m headed to bed and tomorrow is busy… will visit this later in the week and reach out to Godaddy

Update: I chatted with GoDaddy support. They deactivated htaccess and my check.php file reported correct php version. They ran rebug and saw that one of my plugins was causing the issue., Nextgen-gallery. They deactivated it and restored the htaccess file. WordPress saw the correct PHP and was able to update. Thank you for the help!