Shopify in 2027: Every Deadline and Change Merchants Need to Know

Between now and mid-2027, four Shopify changes are the ones most likely to break something on a small store:

1. 1 March 2027: script tags stop loading. Older app widgets and tracking that load this way, such as reviews, pop-ups, chat and pixels, will disappear from your storefront unless the app has moved to an app embed.
2. 1 January to 1 April 2027: apps on old access tokens are cut off. Public apps that haven’t migrated are removed from the App Store on 1 January, flagged in your admin from 15 January, and lose API access on 1 April. Their syncs stop.
3. November 2026: apps without an IP allowlist are restricted. Bulk operations from those apps fail from 12 November, and the apps can’t be newly installed from 20 November.
4. 16 January 2027: API version 2026-01 is retired. Custom apps a developer built for your store, pinned to that version, move to a newer one automatically, and may behave differently.

Around them sit rules from outside Shopify: Louisiana’s click-to-cancel law on 1 January 2027, Google Merchant Center’s image-size enforcement on 31 January, India’s data protection duties on 13 May, and the permanent end of the US de minimis exemption on 1 July.

This page lists every dated change we could verify from now to the end of 2027, with what each one means for a merchant and what to do. Each date links to its source. Last checked 8 November 2026. We update this page when Shopify announces changes.

Shopify deadlines 2027 at a glance

The sections below explain the changes that need the most work.

What happens when Shopify script tags stop loading on 1 March 2027?

Script tags are an old way for apps to add JavaScript to a storefront, and they are being switched off. Shopify’s changelog is direct: “On March 1, 2027, Shopify will stop injecting script tags into storefronts.” It applies to every API version, so an app can’t avoid it by pinning an older one. Apps have been unable to create or update script tags since 1 October 2026. Tags that already exist keep running until 1 March.

What breaks: anything an app still loads through a script tag, such as a review widget, a pop-up, a chat bubble or a tracking pixel. There is no error message. The widget just stops appearing. The same applies to scripts a past developer added through a custom app.

What to do before February:

1. List every app that shows something on your storefront, or that tracks visitors.
2. Ask each vendor whether the app has moved to an app embed or a web pixel, Shopify’s recommended replacements.
3. Turn the embed on in your theme editor under App embeds. Embeds are switched on per theme, so do it on the live theme.
4. Don’t run both versions at once. If the old script tag and the new embed both load, the script runs twice, which can double-count analytics or show a widget twice.
5. Move any custom-app or agency scripts into the theme code if no app replaces them.

A quick check: open your store, view the page source and search for asyncLoad. The script addresses listed near it are script tags. That’s a practitioner’s shortcut rather than a Shopify-documented method, but it shows you what is still loading this way.

The date could still move. A Shopify staff member wrote in September that the team would “keep an eye on script tag usage through Q4 and look at it again in January”. Plan for 1 March anyway. Our script tag guide walks through the check, app embeds, tracking pixels and custom-app scripts step by step.

Which Shopify apps stop working in 2027?

Two security changes will cut off public apps (apps from the App Store) whose developers haven’t updated them. Neither affects custom apps you or your developer created for your own store.

Expiring access tokens. Shopify is replacing permanent app access tokens with tokens that expire. Its timeline for apps that haven’t migrated:

• 1 January 2027: “delisted from the Shopify App Store and blocked from new installs.”
• 15 January 2027: “Merchants using the app see a warning in Shopify admin.”
• 1 April 2027: “Admin API requests using non-expiring offline access tokens return HTTP 403”, meaning the app can no longer read or change your store. Inventory syncs, subscription billing or order exports that rely on it stop.

Shopify says “Custom apps and apps created by merchants are excluded.”

IP allowlists. From 12 November 2026, “bulk operations from public apps without an IP allowlist will fail to execute”, and from 20 November those apps are delisted and blocked from new installs. Shopify’s changelog doesn’t say existing installs stop working. But if you uninstall a flagged app, you may not be able to reinstall it.

What to do: go to Settings > Apps in your Shopify admin. It now shows each app’s security status, including IP restrictions and whether it uses expiring access tokens (Shopify’s announcement). Write to the vendor of any app that isn’t compliant and ask for a date. If an app you depend on still shows a warning after 15 January, start replacing it then, not in March.

What changes for custom apps built for your store?

Shopify releases a new API version every quarter and retires each one after a year. Version 2026-01 stops being accessible on 16 January 2027, then 2026-04 in April, 2026-07 in July and 2026-10 in October. A custom app still asking for a retired version doesn’t stop. Shopify “falls forward and responds using the oldest accessible stable version.” The app keeps running, but on rules it wasn’t tested against. Version 2027-01, for example, removes the automaticDiscounts query.

If a freelancer or agency built you a custom app, ask them which API version it uses, and to update and test it before the version is retired. Discount and collection logic is where changes most often show up.

Two more dates are still to come. Legacy customer accounts were deprecated on 26 February 2026, and Shopify has said a final sunset date will be announced later. As of 8 November 2026 it hasn’t been. Stores still on legacy accounts should plan the move to new customer accounts now. Many subscription and returns apps need new accounts anyway, because of the 1 December change in the table.

What do Shopify’s new Partner tiers mean when you hire an agency?

On 1 January 2027, “the Select, Plus, and Premier tiers retire”. Agencies and developers will instead hold one of four tiers, based mainly on the sales (GMV) of the stores attributed to them and how many stores that is:

Tiers update daily, and the Partner Directory lists partners from Silver up. A tier tells you how much merchant volume a partner has worked on. It doesn’t tell you whether they are good at the work you need, or whether they suit a store your size. A Diamond agency’s minimum project may be larger than your annual development budget. Our guide to choosing a Shopify agency covers what to check instead.

What changes for subscription stores in 2027?

Two dates matter if you sell subscriptions:

• 1 December 2026: subscription and returns apps must sign customers in through Shopify’s Customer Account API, or they are “at risk of losing Built for Shopify status”. Ask your app vendor whether it complies. Moving off legacy customer accounts is usually part of the answer.
• 1 January 2027: Louisiana’s Click-to-Cancel Act takes effect for auto-renewing subscriptions sold to Louisiana residents (bill history). It requires clear renewal terms near the purchase button, affirmative consent, a notice at least three days before annual renewals, trial conversions and price changes, and a simple way to cancel. Law-firm summaries report penalties of up to $500 per violation and an exemption for businesses with fewer than 50 employees or under $5 million in annual revenue. Confirm against the enacted text before relying on the exemption.

New York City’s auto-renewal rule has applied since 1 October 2026. The FTC’s federal click-to-cancel rule was struck down in 2025, so in the US the rules are now state and city ones. AI shopping channels add a separate limit: Shopify’s direct checkouts in Copilot, Google AI Mode and Meta still don’t sell subscription-only products, which our post on AI checkout and subscriptions explains.

Will Google Shopping reject your product images?

Google Merchant Center requires product images of at least 500×500 pixels. It started warning in April 2026, “with enforcement starting on January 31, 2027”. Google says it will automatically improve some smaller images, but don’t count on it for your best sellers. In Merchant Center, check “Needs attention” for “Image too small for upcoming enforcement”, and upload images of at least 1500×1500 pixels, which also look better on large screens.

Which privacy laws start in 2027?

Most small stores fall under the thresholds of the new US state laws, but check rather than assume:

The California law is the one most likely to reach a mid-sized store. From 2027, browsers will send the Global Privacy Control signal far more often, so make sure your cookie banner or consent app treats it as an opt-out of sale and sharing.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules were published in the Gazette on 13 November 2025, and their main duties apply 18 months later. Some sources count from the 14 November notification, so treat 13–14 May 2027 as the deadline. For an Indian store, or any store with Indian customers, that means:

• an itemised consent notice;
• reasonable security safeguards;
• breach notification;
• erasing data you no longer need, while keeping logs for a year;
• a named grievance contact;
• verifiable parental consent before processing children’s data.

What changes for import duties and cross-border selling?

• United States: the de minimis exemption, which let parcels worth up to $800 enter without duty, has been suspended for every country since 29 August 2025, and indefinitely by regulation since 24 June 2026. On 1 July 2027 its repeal becomes law, so little changes on the day. What changes is that only Congress could bring it back. Keep duties in your prices, ship duties-paid where you can, and keep tariff codes and country of origin accurate.
• European Union: since 1 July 2026 the EU has charged €3 per item on parcels worth up to €150, plus a €2 handling fee since 1 November 2026 (European Commission). Shopify Shipping and Managed Markets labels for those parcels now need three product identifiers per item. Shopify’s bulk editor is the fastest way to add them.

Our 2027 guide to profitable products works through what these duties do to a product’s margin. Two narrower EU rules apply in this window too. The EU deforestation regulation applies from 30 December 2026 for medium and large operators, and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones, covering cocoa, coffee, wood, leather, rubber, soy and palm products (Regulation 2025/2650). From 18 February 2027, portable batteries in products sold in the EU must be removable and replaceable by the user (Battery Regulation guidance).

Which Shopify deadlines have already passed?

If an older guide warned you about these, they’re done:

• Shopify Scripts (the Ruby scripts on Shopify Plus) were “retired on June 30, 2026, and scripts no longer run on any store”. Their replacement is apps built on Shopify Functions.
• Thank you and Order status pages: the upgrade deadline was 26 August 2026, and stores that hadn’t upgraded were upgraded automatically. Additional scripts there have been view-only since August 2025.
• Creating script tags: blocked for apps since 1 October 2026. Existing ones run until 1 March 2027.
• Stocky, Shopify’s inventory app for POS, was no longer available after 31 August 2026.

What we don’t know yet

• When Shopify’s next Edition lands. Winter Editions came in December in 2024 and 2025, but 2026 broke the pattern: Spring ’26 in June and Fall ’26 on 28 October. No date is announced. We’ll update this page when there is one.
• The final sunset date for legacy customer accounts. Shopify said it would announce one later in 2026.
• Whether the script-tag date moves. Shopify said it would look again in January.

A 30-minute check you can do this week

1. Open Settings > Apps and note every app flagged for IP restrictions or for not using expiring tokens.
2. List apps that show anything on your storefront, and email each vendor to ask whether they have moved off script tags.
3. View your page source and search for asyncLoad to see what still loads through script tags.
4. Ask whoever built your custom apps which API version each one uses.
5. Check Google Merchant Center’s “Needs attention” tab for images too small for the January enforcement.
6. If you sell subscriptions, ask your app vendor about the 1 December change, and check your renewal terms against Louisiana’s law.
7. Put 1 March 2027 in your calendar, and check the storefront that morning.

If you’d rather have someone else do the inventory, our $699 full-site audit includes an app and integration health check alongside performance, SEO, conversion, accessibility and code, and ends with a prioritised fix list. Or book a free 30-minute call and we’ll tell you which of these dates actually affects your store.

FAQs

When do Shopify script tags stop working?

Shopify stops loading script tags on storefronts on 1 March 2027, for every API version. Apps have been unable to create or update script tags since 1 October 2026, and existing ones keep running until 1 March. Apps should move to app embeds or web pixels, which merchants turn on in the theme editor under App embeds.

Will my Shopify apps stop working in 2027?

Some public apps will, if their developers haven’t migrated to expiring access tokens. Those apps are delisted on 1 January 2027, flagged in the admin from 15 January, and lose Admin API access on 1 April 2027. Check each app’s status under Settings > Apps, and ask the vendors of any flagged app for a fix date.

Are custom apps affected by Shopify’s expiring token change?

No. Shopify says custom apps and apps created by merchants are excluded from the expiring access token deadlines. Custom apps are still affected by API version retirement, with 2026-01 retired on 16 January 2027, and by the 1 March 2027 script tag cut-off if they load scripts that way.

What are Shopify’s new Partner tiers in 2027?

From 1 January 2027, Shopify’s Select, Plus and Premier partner tiers are replaced by Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Tiers are based mainly on the sales of the stores attributed to a partner and how many stores that is, from $25,000 and one store for Silver to $500 million and 25 stores for Diamond. They measure volume, not the quality of the work.

When is Shopify’s next Edition?

Shopify hasn’t announced it. Winter Editions were released in December in 2024 and 2025. In 2026 Shopify released Spring ’26 in June and Fall ’26 on 28 October, so the usual December timing is not certain.

What is changing for Shopify stores selling to the EU?

Since 1 July 2026 the EU charges a €3 customs duty per item on parcels worth up to €150, and since 1 November 2026 a €2 handling fee as well. Shopify Shipping and Managed Markets labels for those parcels now need three product identifiers per item, such as a GTIN and a SKU.

When do India’s DPDP Rules apply to online stores?

The main duties of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules apply 18 months after the Rules were published on 13 November 2025, which is 13 May 2027. Some sources count from 14 November. Online stores handling personal data of people in India need consent notices, security safeguards, breach notification, erasure processes and a grievance contact by then.