Magento 2.4.4 Release: What’s New?

Magento 2.4.4 was finally released for general availability on April 12, 2022, after being in beta since October of the previous year.

It is quite a big release that includes exciting new features, performance enhancements, bug fixes, and a security update.
In this article, we’ll look over the update and what it brings, and see how it influences your store.

We have a lot to go through, so let’s get started! 

PHP 8.1 Support 

This is one of the biggest changes in the update. The newest Magento / Adobe Commerce version will now support PHP 8.1, an upgrade from the previous PHP 7 support. This comes as no surprise. Since Magento is based on PHP, the support for the latest PHP versions always comes in their updates.

The new PHP version comes with new features, such as:

• Enumerations
• Fibers
• The ‘never’ Return Type
• The ‘readonly’ Property
• Final Class Constants
• New ‘array_is_list()’ Function
• New ‘fsync()’ and ‘fdatasync()’ Functions
• Array Unpacking Support for String-Keyed Arrays
• New ‘full_path’ Key in ‘$_FILES’ for Directory Uploads
• New ‘IntlDatePatternGenerator’ Class

It also comes with a significant performance improvement. PHP 8.1 brings a 23.0% speedup in Symfony Demo.  For you this means faster response times, which is always a good thing. 

You can read more about this release on the official PHP 8.1 release page.

All project libraries and dependencies have been updated, so they can work properly with PHP 8.1. All third-party libraries and Core Composer dependencies are now also compatible with the latest update. 

However, the update won’t be fully in effect for another four months, since Adobe wanted to provide enough time for Adobe Solution Partners to build their expertise with a new PHP version. 

Also, with this update, Adobe will end the support for PHP 7.1. 

Added support for OpenSearch

Previously, Magento stores could use Elasticsearch. With Magento 2.4.4, Adobe added support for another in-search store engine, this time OpenSearch. 

Users of Adobe Commerce will have to move to OpenSearch, and everyone else will have an opportunity to choose which engine they prefer. In case you prefer Elasticsearch, we suggest updating to the latest version to mitigate any vulnerabilities. 

Magento B2B

The new update brought a lot of changes to Magento B2B clients, probably deserving their own article. You can read about them in detail here.

PayPal Payment Improvements

This updated somewhat widened available PayPal functionality, and fixed some issues it had. The changes include:

• Added support for Venmo. 
• Pay Later option is now determined based on customers locations, and not the merchant’s.
• You can now test their clients’ experience by selecting the customer country (only available in sandbox testing mode). 
• Accurate messaging on the checkout page when Pay Later is used.

Accessibility Updates

Adobe worked hard to ensure they can provide a smooth shopping experience to everyone. This release brought enhanced conformance to accessibility guidelines. Over 80% of the updates are targeting users without vision, or with limited vision. It includes improved tooltips, accessible naming and tagging of screen elements, and redesigned icons and buttons. 

Security Updates

Adobe continues to improve Magento security. This time, the new update introduced some improvements that would make operations more secure both for you, and your clients. Among them are: 

• Google reCAPTCHA support for the coupon codes added.
• HTTPS (Secure URL) is the default for storefront and admin.
• Magento database no longer stores session IDs.
• The size and number of API resources that can be requested by user through Web API are limited.
• Password reset tokens and OAuth access tokens are encrypted when stored in the database.

Platform Enhancements

• As we’ve mentioned previously, project libraries and dependencies have been updated to support PHP 8.1. 
• Support for Elasticsearch 7.16 and OpenSearch 1.2 added. 
• PHPUnit was upgraded to 9.5.x. 
• Support for TinyMCE 5.8.1 added. 
• JQuery library upgraded to version 3.6, Jquery-ui – to 1.13.0.

Fixed issues with Magento Open Source 2.4.4

• Resolved some issues with installation, deployment, and upgrades.
• “Invalid security or form key. Please refresh the page” error that would come up on the Admin login has been resolved.
• Fixed accessibility errors to the cart and checkout page from navigation.
• Removed duplicate values insertion into MySQL database table.

This is in no way a comprehensive list. To see everything that was changed, read the official documentation.

Vector Bundled Extensions

Previous Magento versions had bundled third party plugins (like, Klarna, Amazon Pay) that came with the software. In this update, all vendor-bundled extensions (except Braintree) have been removed from the code base. If your store uses any of these extensions, you should migrate to the official extensions, available on the Commerce Marketplace. 

GraphQL

There were some improvements to GraphQL added in this update. Here are some of them: 

• B2B clients can now use GraphQL API for all negotiable quote tasks. Previously, you could use them for negotiation flows, but not at checkout. 
• Cart operations’ performance was improved. The collectQuoteTotals() method is only called once during a GraphQL request, resulting in less latency in the response.
• GraphQL requests are being cached using Storefront API now. For you, this means an improved performance of your storefront. 
• GraphQL requests sent with authentication tokens are cashed by CDNs Fastly and Varnish.
• The library has been updated to the latest version, and the webonyx library (that makes it possible for GraphQL to function) has been upgraded to v14.9.
• Numerous translation issues resolved for multi-site and multi-language stores. 

What’s Next?

Magento 2.4.4 was a significant update, but Adobe still has more in the works. Take a look at their release schedule:

In Conclusion

As you can see, this update brings a ton of new features to explore. To read more about added features, read the release notes on Adobe website. 

• Magento Open Source 2.4.4 Release Notes
• Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 Release Notes

If you haven’t upgraded your Magento 2.x store to the newest version, or if for some reason you are still using Magento 1, it’s time for an update! Read more about how we can help you here.