New members who join a BuddyPress site with no existing connections often feel like they are entering an empty room. BuddyPress Auto Friends automatically creates accepted friendships between new registrants and designated existing users, so every new member starts with a social network on day one. Compatible with BuddyBoss Platform member connections.
The friend-lists popup, manage-members modal, and the confirm dialog now follow dark mode on BuddyX, BuddyX Pro, and Reign instead of showing a light panel on a dark page.
Confirm dialog buttons now keep their own styling in every theme, so the Cancel and OK buttons stay readable in both light and dark mode.
Empty-state messages inside the manage-members modal, such as "No users found." on the Suggested tab, now follow dark mode with readable contrast instead of showing low-contrast text on a light box.
v1.8.4
May 25, 2026
New 1 Improve 4 Fix 4 Dev 1
New
Live progress for "Friend with existing members" on large communities. On sites where the action queues background work, the button now updates in place with a running count (e.g. "120 / 500 befriending…") so you can see the job moving instead of wondering if it stalled. A final toast confirms the count when it finishes.
Improve
Plugin styles no longer load on every BuddyPress member page. The Friend Lists CSS now ships only on the Friend Lists tab itself, so Profile, Friends, Groups, Messages, Notifications, and Settings tabs are no longer paying for it.
Confirmation dialog before bulk befriending now explains exactly where the progress will appear, so admins know to watch the button on the same screen instead of refreshing or leaving the page.
Trimmed verbose settings descriptions across every tab to short, clear option-help lines. Less wall of text, same information.
14 user-facing admin and frontend strings that were previously hard-coded English are now translatable. Three additional admin labels that translators previously could not reach are now wired up.
Fix
Auto-friending is now silent on every path. The previous "Send emails anyway" toggle in Advanced settings could still leak notification emails through the bulk welcome flow. Auto-friendships now never trigger friend-request or accept emails, no matter how they were created.
Turning off Friend Lists now actually hides the Friend Lists tab on member profiles. Previously the tab still appeared on every profile even with the feature disabled.
The "Friend with existing members" confirmation dialog on the Global Friends screen rendered with a see-through background and an invisible Continue button. The dialog is now solid, fully readable, and the Continue button is styled correctly.
The plugin now refuses to activate when BuddyPress (or BuddyBoss Platform) is missing, or when the Friends component is turned off. You will see a clear red admin notice explaining the reason instead of a silently-broken active state and a misleading "Plugin activated" message.
Dev
Help docs and the in-admin Global Friends note have been rewritten to describe what the plugin actually does - selecting Editor as a welcome role makes every new signup friends with every existing Editor (welcome-group / ambassador model), regardless of the new signup's own role. The previous "mutual role pairing" wording was wrong.
Plug-and-play setup. Selecting at least one role, member type, or hand-picked person turns auto-friending on automatically the first time you save. No hidden master switch.
Welcome-group model. The roles or member types you select are now treated as the welcome group: every new signup is friended with every existing member in that group, regardless of the new member\'s own role. No notifications are sent. Friendships simply appear in the new member\'s standard BuddyPress friends list.
Brand-new admin UI. Every settings screen was rewritten as a clean card-panel layout with a sidebar, proper page header, and plain-English labels.
"WB Plugins" hub. All Wbcom plugins now share a single top-level menu with a card-grid dashboard, so the admin sidebar stays tidy even when a site runs the full community bundle. Legacy (un-migrated) Wbcom plugins coexist cleanly with the new hub.
Friendships are now created automatically when a user\'s role or member type changes, and cleaned up when a role or member type is removed or swapped.
Live progress indicator during manual processing shows total users, processed count, percentage, and any errors as they happen.
The manual processing screen now works with screen readers, announcing progress updates for better accessibility.
If BuddyPress or the Friends component is missing, the plugin now deactivates itself safely with a clear admin notice instead of causing errors.
License tab directly inside Auto Friends. Enter, activate, and check your license key without leaving the plugin\'s admin page.
Documentation link added to the plugin\'s admin header so the docs site is one click away from every settings tab.
When BuddyBoss is active and Activity Tabs is turned off, the Friend Lists settings tab now surfaces a warning explaining that per-list activity filter tabs are suppressed by that BuddyBoss setting, with a direct link to the BuddyBoss Activity settings page. Previously the feature appeared half-broken on default BuddyBoss installs.
Improve
Sidebar consolidated to four tabs (Overview, Auto-Friendship, Friend Lists, License). Global Friends, Cleanup, Advanced, and Processing now live as sections inside the tabs they belong to. Old bookmarks keep working via legacy URL aliases.
Plain-language labels across every settings screen. No more jargon or internal option names.
Overview screen shows live counts of global friends, auto-friended members, and members using friend lists, plus a snapshot of the current configuration at a glance.
Processing card re-designed around a single "back-fill existing members" action with clearer guidance on when you actually need it.
Cleanup section makes it obvious that manual friendships are never touched. Only friendships the plugin itself created can be undone.
Advanced section trimmed to just the bulk-notification toggle.
Admin assets now load only on our own screens and the shared hub.
Toast notifications and an accessible confirmation modal replace browser alerts and confirms across the admin.
Much faster friendship syncing on large communities thanks to a new caching layer and optimized database queries.
Safer bulk processing. The plugin monitors memory usage and pauses automatically before the server runs out of resources.
Hardened security across admin screens. All admin actions now verify the correct permissions, and every database query uses safe, prepared statements.
Polished "Suggested" members list with scroll shadows, better popup height, and cleaner styling across all themes.
Better BuddyBoss Platform compatibility. The Friend List tab appears correctly in timelines and irrelevant grid filters are hidden.
Improved Youzify theme compatibility for the friend-list popup and related UI.
Dropped the legacy BuddyPress 12.0 compatibility shim (no longer needed on modern BuddyPress).
Replaced outline removal on focus states with a visible keyboard-focus indicator to improve keyboard accessibility.
Uninstalling the plugin now also clears its leftover manual-processing progress data.
Dropped the third-party Font Awesome request from the admin. The single icon that used it now uses WordPress core\'s built-in spinner, so the admin area no longer depends on an external network resource.
Security hardening across the codebase to meet the WordPress Plugin Check requirements. Includes consistent direct-file-access guards on every PHP file and translator comments on every translatable string with placeholders.
Fix
Bulk friendship creation now treats every recipient consistently, including Global Friends whose user role does not match the configured welcome-group role. (Note: as of 1.8.4 this flow is silent by design - no friend-request or accept emails are sent regardless of recipient.)
"Clean up auto-friendships when a member loses the welcome-group role" now actually removes friendships when the role is taken away. Previously a background job would silently recreate the just-removed friendships, leaving the setting with no visible effect.
Manual processing buttons (Run Role-Based Processing and Run Member-Type Processing) now fire reliably. The click handler has been wired back up, and the progress bar updates live with processed, total, succeeded, and failed counts as the job runs.
Manual processing summary now shows a distinct message ("No new friendships to create - all eligible users are already connected.") when a re-run finds 0 new pairs, instead of reporting "0 pair(s) created".
Friendships created by the plugin are now tracked precisely, so cleanup only removes friendships that this plugin actually created. Never your users\' manually added friends.
Friend List modal. Non-friends can no longer be added to a list when the list is restricted to existing connections.
Search in the "Suggested" tab of the Friend List modal now returns results reliably.
Dynamic processing settings now save and apply as expected.
Friendship count displayed after a sync is now accurate.
Friend List modal popup now closes reliably in all situations.
Resolved several PHP warnings, including ones on BuddyBoss Platform and on the General settings tab.
Improved friendship sync for users with unusual role or member-type combinations.
Fixed BuddyBoss admin notice display glitches.
Security
Friend Lists are now strictly friends-only. Members can only add people they are already friends with to one of their private lists. The legacy "any site member" option has been retired.
The "Friend with existing members" action on the Global Friends screen now requires administrator permission, not just a logged-in session. Closes a path where a lower-privileged logged-in user could probe friend counts for arbitrary site members.
License activation and deactivation now require administrator permission. License key writes and the call out to the licensing server are now admin-only operations.
Compat
Tested with BuddyPress 14.x, the latest BuddyBoss Platform, and PHP 8.1 through 8.4.
Note
New filter `bautof_enable_notifications_for_user` lets integrations override the silent-by-design default and send notification emails to specific recipients during bulk friendship creation.
v1.8.0
December 5, 2024
Note 7
Note
Fixed alignment of member and edit list buttons.
Resolved Youzify UI issue with "Add Friend," "Managed List," and "Edit Popup" sections.
Fixed PHPCS issues in multiple files
Fixed feedback form redirect issue.
Resolved "Plugin is ineffective" message display issue despite activation.
Managed UI fixes for the global friends table.
Improved responsive fixes for backend options.
v1.7.0
July 26, 2024
New 2 Improve 8 Fix 11 Note 4
New
Checkbox for disabled
Confirmation message after sync finish
Improve
Disable activity tab/filter content
Edit friend list popup
Label options
Friend lists modal popup label
Message
Customize Suggested Members List Option
Checkbox for disabled activity UI and update label
Moved the Friend Lists option to a new tab
Fix
Fatal Error with BB Platform
Page should be reloaded after adding the member for the member count
Counter Missing
Friends list popup UI Issue
Sync Friendship progress issue
Member Type base friendship issue
BB Platform hide tab issue
Friend lists count issue
Hide the Sync Button when the count connection is 0
User role and member type-wise friend connect
Auto Friends set as per selected user role or member type wise for existing user.
Note
User progress UI
removed Notifications and Role-Based Maximum Friend Lists options
Options Save and also new user connected with selected user roles and member type wise.
Counter Missing UI Managed
v1.6.9
July 10, 2024
New 7 Improve 4 Fix 30 Note 8
New
Backend option to enable/disable list
Manage members button in Friend Lists
User Roles Or Member Type wise auto friend for newly registered user.
settings for the suggested members list
User role-wise limit option
Friend Lists in Personal Activity Field
Create Lists Popup and Show the Created list
Improve
Popup default height and UI fixes
Search box width
Button UI with themes
Info spacing
Fix
Fatal error with BuddyPress
BuddyBoss-related friend lists issue
If not a friend then show the empty suggestion
Undefined array key "scope"
Show the friend Lists tab in the user timeline in the BuddyBoss Platform
User tab issue
Hide "Friend list" tab for logged out user
Do not show logged-in members in the suggested friend list
Customize the notice
The Global Maximum Friend List creation limit is not working
Member Types are not showing with BuddyBoss
Add option spacing
User role limit
Notice UI
Backend Setting: How many friend lists are users allowed to create
Remove the user issue in the popup
User Listing issue
If the user logged in then only show the tab
BuddyBoss platform - Display tab on Activity news feed page
User Activity issue
Show input type search icon
Issue with BuddyBoss
BuddyBoss Notification issue
# issue in the URL
PHP warning
Remove the user on click while removing
If my list has no users then the filter will display no activity.
Remove the Logged in user, add user and Administrator user from member suggestion lists.
Add/remove members from the lists and Show the added members in the member's tab.
Delete the created friend list
Note
Create list button disabled style
Button UI
Members listing UI
Add list button with twenty twenty-four theme
Edit members listing UI
Add lists UI
Add lists popup UI
Member button UI
v1.6.8
May 1, 2024
Fix 6
Fix
Issue with license is not deactivated if response is failed
(#46) Error by Wordfence on creating a new user
Update notification description
(#45) Update description
(#44) Warning issue
Changed BP12 version compare function
v1.6.7
December 6, 2023
Fix 6
Fix
Text domain issue
BP v12 fixes
License issue fixes
Fatal error
PHPCS fixes
(#40) Issue with PHP 8.2
v1.6.6
July 19, 2023
Fix 2
Fix
Fixed text domain
Update now link issue
v1.6.5
May 19, 2023
Improve 1 Fix 3
Improve
Added support menu and updated author name
Fix
Admin Notice Error hide
(#32) Managed Back-end setting UI
Plugin redirect issue when multi plugin activate at the same time
v1.6.4
November 30, 2022
Fix 2
Fix
Remove admin notice
Fixed buddyboss admin notice issue
v1.6.3
August 4, 2022
Fix 1
Fix
Admin wrapper UI
v1.6.2
July 19, 2022
Fix 5
Fix
(#29,#30) Improved admin UI
Added phpcs ignore comments
Fixed nonce issue
Fixed redirect issue on bulk plugin activation
Removed install plugin button from wrapper
v1.6.1
October 14, 2021
Fix 5
Fix
(#18) - Fixed add random user if no one is selected in global friend list.
(#24) - Fixed add same user if no one is selected in global friend list.
(#23) - Fixed Plugin Activation Issue.
(#26) - Fixed Disable Notification Button Issue.
Fixed phpcs-errors.
v1.6.0
August 26, 2021
Fix 3
Fix
#20 - member types notification is not triggering
#21 - Shift notification section below the global friend section
#19 - Option for admin notification
v1.5.0
June 23, 2021
Fix 5
Fix
Update plugin backend UI
Removed css file error
added 5 sec cron time delay
Remove "auto friends" meta key on Remove friends function
German Translation
v1.4.5
September 4, 2020
Fix 1
Fix
#9 Fixed license issue
v1.4.4
May 15, 2020
Fix 2
Fix
Optimized Get missing friends id
Auto Friend issue if any user friend count is zero then Befriend All
v1.4.3
May 15, 2020
Fix 1
Fix
updated ajax call and kept outside framework
v1.4.2
May 12, 2020
Fix 1
Fix
Limiting JS call at admin plugin specific page.
v1.4.1
May 1, 2020
Fix 1
Fix
User selection process optimization from large list
v1.4.0
April 30, 2020
Improve 2 Fix 1
Improve
Remove friendship accepted notification and activity
Support for large communities with cron scheduler
Fix
Admin notice for required plugins
v1.3.0
November 28, 2019
Improve 1
Improve
Be Friends with existing members of website.
v1.2.0
November 19, 2019
Note 1
Note
Added German Translation language file contributed by Thorsten Wollenhoefer
v1.1.0
Improve 1 Fix 1
Improve
4.3.0 compatibility.
Fix
added font awesome 4.7.0
v1.0.0
April 5, 2019
Note 1
Note
first version.
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