Understanding Theme Updates in Shopify

Brandon Landgraff


Understanding Theme Updates in Shopify (2025 Guide)


Shopify has made major improvements to how theme updates work — especially in 2025. If you’ve ever worried that updating a theme would wipe out your customizations, this post is for you.


Let’s break down how theme updates work now, what’s changed, and how to safely update your theme while keeping your edits intact.


What Are Theme Updates?


Theme updates are new versions of your theme released by the theme developer.

These updates might include:

  • New features or sections
  • Design improvements
  • Performance or accessibility fixes
  • Compatibility with new Shopify APIs or features


In the past, updating a theme meant downloading the new version, manually copying over your custom code, and hoping nothing broke. Not anymore.

 

What Changed in 2025?


Shopify now supports theme updates with custom section preservation. This means that if you’ve added custom sections or app blocks to your theme, they won’t be lost when you update.

 

Here’s what’s improved:

  • Custom sections are preserved
  • Content from your theme editor is kept intact
  • Apps and app embeds stay connected
  • A comparison tool helps you see changes before publishing


What Isn’t Preserved?

 

While content and most custom sections are retained, some things still require manual attention:

  • Direct edits to core theme files (like theme.liquid, product.liquid, etc.)
  • Custom CSS or JS added directly to theme files
  • Sections or blocks that were deleted from the theme’s latest version


If you’ve made heavy code changes directly to the theme, you’ll need to manually carry those changes over or use a version control system like Git.

 

Best Practices Before Updating

 

To avoid surprises:

  1. Duplicate your current theme: Always create a backup before applying an update.
  2. Use a staging theme: Publish updates to a duplicate first and test everything before going live.
  3. Track your customizations: Keep custom code in snippets or separate files, and document any changes you’ve made.
  4. Use Git for development: If you’re a developer, use Git to track changes and merge updates more confidently.


How to Update Your Theme

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes
  2. Find your published theme or the one you want to update
  3. Click Update available
  4. Review the summary of changes
  5. Choose whether to preserve content (Shopify does this by default now)
  6. Publish the updated theme when you’re ready


Final Thoughts


Shopify’s theme update improvements make it easier than ever to stay up-to-date without losing your work. Whether you’re a merchant adding sections in the theme editor or a developer maintaining a custom setup, updates are now safer and more transparent.


Keeping your theme current helps you unlock the latest Shopify features — and now, you can do it without fear.

 

Back to resources