Description
Students who can access your entire course on day one will binge it. By week three they are stuck, overwhelmed, or gone — and asking for refunds. You built the course as a week-by-week journey, but your delivery system does not enforce that pace.
Content Time Lock fixes this without a $179-per-year membership plugin. You set an unlock date on any post or page. Until that date, students see a message you write instead of the content. When the date arrives, the content unlocks automatically — no manual steps, no developer help required.
What you can do with it:
- Lock any post, page, or custom post type until a date and time you pick. Set the unlock date right inside the post editor, one field, one click. Works with standard posts, pages, and any custom post type.
- Show students a live countdown timer. While the content is locked, students see a ticking timer — “Unlocks in 3 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes.” Three display styles to choose from: simple text, flip-card, or circular. When the countdown hits zero, the page tells them the content just unlocked and prompts a refresh.
- Restrict by user role. Choose whether to lock content for all logged-in users, specific roles only, or guest visitors. Administrators always see everything regardless of lock settings.
- Write your own locked-state message. Replace the default placeholder text with whatever you want students to see — HTML supported. Set a global default and override it per post when you need different messages for different lessons.
- Add a call-to-action button on the locked screen. Point students somewhere useful while they wait — a prerequisite lesson, a community forum, or a welcome page. Custom label and URL, toggled per post.
What this plugin does not do: Content Time Lock has no payment processing, no email opt-in gates, and no membership tiers — it locks and unlocks content by date and user role, nothing else.
Screenshots
The Time Lock metabox inside the post editor — set an unlock date, pick a role restriction, and optionally override the global message. 
The locked content placeholder as a student sees it, with the countdown timer running. 
The three countdown timer styles: text, flip-card, and circular. 
The global settings page under Tools Content Time Lock. 
The All Time Locks admin list — every locked post with its unlock date and current locked or unlocked status. 
Installation
- Upload the
content-time-lockfolder to/wp-content/plugins/or install through Plugins Add New. - Activate the plugin.
- Go to Tools Content Time Lock to set your global defaults — lock message, countdown style, and custom CSS class.
- Open any post or page, find the Time Lock metabox, check Enable Time Lock, choose who to restrict, set your unlock date and time, and save.
- That is it. The content is now hidden until the date you set.
FAQ
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Do my students need an account?
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Yes, for most setups. The plugin restricts content by user role — so to keep lessons away from everyone except paying students, those students need a WordPress user account with the right role. You can create accounts manually, let students register themselves, or connect any plugin that assigns roles on signup or purchase (WooCommerce + User Role Editor, for example). Guest lockout is also available if you want to block unregistered visitors entirely.
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Will this work with my theme?
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Almost certainly yes. The plugin hooks into
the_contentfilter — the standard WordPress mechanism that every well-built theme uses to output post content. It also has specific compatibility handling for Elementor, Beaver Builder, and SiteOrigin Page Builder. If you hit an issue with a particular theme or builder, open a support thread with the theme name and we will take a look. -
Can I drip content based on when someone registers?
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Not currently. Unlock dates are fixed calendar dates — one date applies to all users. If Lesson 2 should unlock on March 10th for your entire cohort, this plugin handles that cleanly. If you need Lesson 2 to unlock exactly seven days after each individual student signs up, you need a plugin that tracks per-user enrollment dates (LearnDash or LifterLMS, for example). Relative unlock dates based on registration are on our feature roadmap.
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Does this work with WooCommerce?
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Yes, indirectly. Content Time Lock does not connect to WooCommerce orders or subscriptions directly — it does not know when someone purchased. What it does do is restrict content by WordPress user role. If you use WooCommerce with a role-assigning plugin (like WooCommerce Memberships or the free User Role Editor), customers who buy get a specific role, and you can lock your lessons to that role with a fixed unlock schedule. WooCommerce decides who has access; this plugin decides when they get it.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Content Time Lock” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.1.1 – 21/04/2024
- Fix – Metabox design.
1.1.0 – 21/04/2024
- Lock any post, page, or custom post type until a specific date and time.
- Role-based restrictions: lock content for all logged-in users, specific roles, or guests.
- Live countdown timer in three display styles: text, flip-card, and circular SVG.
- Per-post settings override global defaults for lock message, countdown visibility, timer style, and CTA button.
- Call-to-action button with custom label and URL on the locked-content screen.
- Administrators always bypass all locks.
- Page builder compatibility for Elementor, Beaver Builder, and SiteOrigin.
- Global settings page under Content Time Lock admin menu.
- All Time Locks admin list with status badges and unlock-date sorting.
1.0.0 – 07/14/2025
- Initial release.