Shopify deprecations in 2026 and 2027: what merchants need to check

Shopify retires old technology on fixed dates, and most of it happens out of sight: inside apps, in the checkout, or in the API calls apps make on your behalf. You usually find out when something on your store quietly stops working.

The months between now (October 2026) and March 2027 have more of these dates than usual. Some have already passed and changed your store whether you acted or not. Others are coming, and they will mostly break apps that are no longer maintained. This article lists every change we could verify on Shopify's own documentation, explains what it means for a store owner, and ends with a checklist.

The timeline at a glance

The two dates that matter most for the coming months are 1 January and 1 March 2027. Both hit apps that have not been updated, and both can take a working feature off your store overnight.

Script tags stop loading on 1 March 2027

A script tag is the old way for an app to put JavaScript on your storefront. The app registers a script URL with Shopify, and Shopify adds it to every page of your online store. Review widgets, chat buttons, pop-ups, currency converters and tracking code have all used this method over the years.

Shopify's deprecation notice sets two dates:

• Since 1 October 2026, the API calls that create or update script tags return an error. An app that still relies on them can no longer fix or change its script.
• On 1 March 2027, "Shopify will stop injecting script tags into storefronts". Whatever those scripts did on your store stops.

The replacement is the app embed block, part of a theme app extension. Shopify's reasoning is about visibility. Script tags run without appearing in your theme editor, while "app embed blocks give merchants visibility and control in the theme editor". For tracking and analytics, apps should move to web pixels, which run in a sandbox and respect your customers' privacy choices.

How to find out which apps use script tags

There is no list in the Shopify admin, and Shopify has said it is not shipping the install warning it had planned for 1 October (staff post in the developer community thread). You can still check in about ten minutes:

1. Look at your theme editor. Go to Online Store, Themes, Customize, and open App embeds in the left sidebar. Apps listed there already use the new method for at least part of what they do.
2. Look at your storefront source. Open your store in a desktop browser, right-click and choose View page source, then search for var urls. Shopify loads script tags from that list (community explanation). Each URL usually contains the app's domain.
3. Match the URLs to your installed apps. For each one, check whether the app still gets updates, then ask the developer one direct question: "Will your storefront features keep working after 1 March 2027?"
4. Remove leftovers. Script URLs from apps you uninstalled long ago sometimes remain in themes as code snippets. Those are not script tags, but they are worth cleaning up while you are there.

Expiring offline tokens from 1 January 2027

When you install an app, Shopify gives it an access token so it can work with your store data when you are not logged in. Until now, those tokens never expired. Shopify's changelog states that from 1 January 2027 "all public apps must use expiring offline access tokens when calling the Admin API", and that apps still using the old tokens "will receive authentication errors". New public apps created since 1 April 2026 already had to use them.

You do not have to change anything yourself. The risk is apps whose developers are no longer active. Those apps will fail on 1 January with no warning on your side. The usual symptoms are stale data in the app, orders that stop syncing, or an app page that shows an error when you open it.

The changelog talks about public apps. Custom apps that a developer built only for your store are not mentioned, but if you have one, ask your developer to read the notice.

Shopify Scripts deprecation: dates and what to do

Shopify Scripts were small Ruby programs, available on Shopify Plus, that changed prices, shipping rates and payment methods at checkout. Shopify's deprecation notice set two dates:

• 15 April 2026. Editing and publishing new Shopify Scripts stopped.
• 30 June 2026. "All Shopify Scripts will cease to execute entirely."

Both dates have passed. Shopify's Script Editor help page now says that any scripts still published on your store "have been deactivated and no longer work". If your store relied on one and nobody replaced it, that rule has not run since 30 June.

What replaces Shopify Scripts

The replacement is Shopify Functions. A function is a small program that Shopify runs inside its own checkout logic, and it reaches your store through an app. According to Shopify's Functions overview, stores on any plan can use public App Store apps that contain functions, but only Shopify Plus stores can use custom apps with Function APIs. Shopify lists Functions next to UI extensions, web pixels and payments extensions as the ways to customize checkout.

Each script type has a close match in the Function APIs:

The script descriptions come from the Script Editor page. Some rules need more than one function, and some are easier to rebuild with a discount app than with custom code.

What to do now

1. Open the customizations report. In your admin, go to Apps, Script Editor, and click Replace Shopify Scripts in the banner, or open admin.shopify.com/settings/checkout/scripts-report. Shopify's transition guide says the report lists the customizations that were active before 30 June 2026, and you can export it as a CSV.
2. Decide what to keep. Some old rules may no longer matter. For each one you still need, write down what it did and one example cart that shows it.
3. Map each rule to an app or a function. The report suggests Functions-based apps for each section and links to tutorials for a custom build. A custom app needs Plus, a public app does not.
4. Test at checkout. Run each example cart through checkout and compare the price, the shipping options and the payment methods with your notes.

checkout.liquid and Additional scripts

The checkout moved to checkout extensibility in stages:

• On 13 August 2024, checkout.liquid stopped working for the Information, Shipping and Payment pages on Plus (Shopify changelog).
• On 28 August 2025, checkout.liquid and Additional scripts were sunset for the Thank you and Order status pages on Plus.
• On other plans, 26 August 2026 was the deadline to upgrade the Thank you and Order status pages. Shopify's upgrade guide explains that existing pages "and any existing customizations on those pages are replaced with the new versions of those pages".

The part that catches stores out is tracking. Conversion pixels for ads and affiliates often lived in Additional scripts. If yours did and you have not replaced them, your ad platforms may have been under-reporting sales since the upgrade. The replacements are app pixels (installed by the ad platform's app) and custom pixels under Settings, Customer events.

Three smaller changes to check

API version 2025-10. Apps call Shopify's Admin API with a version in the URL. Shopify's versioning page lists 2025-10 as accessible until 16 October 2026. After that, Shopify "falls forward" and answers with the oldest version still available, which can change the data an older app receives. Apps that are maintained update their version a few times a year. If you have a custom integration, ask its developer which version it uses.

Legacy customer accounts. Shopify deprecated legacy customer accounts on 26 February 2026 and says a sunset date "will be announced later in 2026". It had not been announced when we wrote this. If your store still uses them, now is a calm time to test new customer accounts. Some features, such as Shopify's native store credit, already require them.

Stocky stopped working after 31 August 2026. Shopify's transition page says data stays exportable in read-only mode for at least 90 days after that date, so export anything you still need before the end of November.

Your checklist

• List every installed app and note what each one shows on your storefront.
• Search your storefront source for var urls and match each script to an app.
• Ask the developer of every app on that list whether it will work after 1 March 2027.
• Check that apps you rely on daily have been updated in the last few months.
• Confirm your ad and affiliate conversions are tracked through app pixels or custom pixels, not old Additional scripts.
• If you were on Plus and used Shopify Scripts, open the scripts report and test your discounts, shipping and payment rules at checkout.
• Ask the developer of any custom app or integration about API versions and access tokens.
• If you still use legacy customer accounts, try new customer accounts on a test theme.
• Put 2 January and 2 March 2027 in your calendar to check your store again.

What we did with our own apps

Both of our apps, Plainfee Size Charts and Giftmint, were built after these rules were announced. They show up on your store through theme app extensions that you can see and remove in the theme editor, they do not use script tags, and they use expiring tokens. That is not a reason to pick them on its own, but it is the standard to ask of any app you install from now on. Our comparisons of gift card apps and size chart apps explain how to check this before you install.

If you want to know what else is worth checking on your store, the clothing size conversion guide and the gift cards and store credit guide cover two areas where we see the most avoidable problems.

Frequently asked questions