Magento 2.4.4: A Peek Into Its Features and Upgrades

Adobe recently released Magento 2.4.4 version on 12th April 2022. And tech geeks, eCommerce owners, and Magento developers have been eagerly waiting for it for a long time.

The latest release is packed with exciting features and improvements for the store owners as well as the Magento developers.

According to an official Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 release note, the latest version includes almost 250 bug fixes and quality enhancements.

In this blog post, we’ll give you a sneak peek into the new features and updates introduced in Magento 2.4.4.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

Magento 2.4.4: Major Highlights

Some of the major highlights of Magento 2.4.4 are listed below:

• HTTPS is now enabled by default for the Magento 2 storefront to ensure enhanced security.
• Support for Elasticsearch 7.16 and OpenSearch 1.2.
• Support for the latest version of PHP 8.1
• PWA Studio v.12.3.0 is now supported by the latest Adobe Commerce 2.4.4.
• Adobe has removed all the Vendor-bundled extensions from the latest release except Braintree.
• The page builder in Magento 2.4.4 now supports adding alt texts for images.
• GraphQL enhancements and performance improvements
• Fixed a lot of known issues for better performance

Magento 2.4.4: Major Upgrades and Features

Some of the major enhancements and improvements in the latest version of Magento include:

Security Enhancements

In its 2.4.4 version, Adobe has primarily focussed on the security aspect of Magento, which are:

• Sessions IDs are no longer stored in the Magento database.
• Encryption of the OAuth access tokens and password reset tokens in the database
• Google reCAPTCHA support for the coupon codes in Magento.
• Secure URLs (HTTPS) for storefront and admin by default.
• Token-based access has been improved.
• Improved API security

Platform Enhancements

Besides the security enhancements, Magento has also introduced some platform enhancements for the Magento developers. Such as:

• All the project libraries and dependencies are now compatible with PHP 8.1.
• The new version also supports Elasticsearch 7.16 and OpenSearch 1.2.
• Upgradation of JQuery library to 3.6 and Jquery-ui library to 1.13.0.
• The 2.1.1 version supports TinyMCE 5.8.1 and has removed TinyMCE 4 from the codebase.
• PHPUnit has upgraded to the latest version, i.e. 9.5x.

Performance & Scalability Enhancements

The Magento 2.4.4 release has been optimized fully to deliver optimum performance by boosting the message queue optimization and throughput order processing.

As mentioned in the release notes, the order processing efficiency has been increased by 6 times in the latest version. Some of the enhancements are listed below:

• Introduction of AsyncOrder feature for better performance.
• ‘Enable Inventory Check On Cart Load’ configuration option to skip the inventory check for faster checkout.
• Memory limit for the cart operations now supports input variables volume.
• Magento 2.4.4 supports deferring total calculation during checkout for enhanced sales rules processing.
• PWA Studio v.12.3.0 is now compatible with the Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 version.

GraphQL

The following GraphQL improvements have been included in the release:

• GraphQL in Magento 2.4.4 now completely covers the negotiable quotes.
• The performance of the GraphQL cart operations has been improved with reduced response time.
• The webonyx library of GraphQL has now been upgraded to version 14.9 in the latest Magento version.
• New Relic in GraphQL with descriptive transaction names makes debugging easier.

Vendor-Bundled Extensions

The following changes and improvements have been included in the Vendor-Bundled Extensions:

• Removed all Vendor-Bundled extensions with the exception of Braintree.
• The merchants can migrate to the following official extensions which are available below:
  a) Amazon Pay
  b) dotdigital
  c) Klarna
  d) Vertex
  e) YotPo

PayPal Payment Enhancements

Some of the PayPal payment enhancements are:

• Support for the PayPal Venmo payment.
• Shopper’s location-based Pay Later option facility.
• Facility for the merchants to test the shopper experience by setting shopper’s country.
• The checkout page accurately displays information about the number and amount of installments while using Pay Later.

Improved Accessibility

There have been few accessibility updates in Magento 2.4.4 to improve the experience of users with limited vision, or cognitive abilities. Some of these improvements are:

• Improved performance of the screen reader tools
• Admin buttons have a unique, accessible, and descriptive purpose
• Image icons serve as an alternative to text
• Increased contrasts in the Admin button for better visibility

Issues Fixed in Magento 2.4.4 Release

• Cart and checkout page navigation accessibility errors have been fixed
• The shopping cart quantity is reverted to the old value if the new quantity is invalid
• Fixed different issues regarding JS loading of customer data
• Option to add more informative content to display to the customers on entering an invalid gift card.
• The product indexing issues have been fixed.
• Error messages are no longer displayed when completing the payment using the Express payment method.
• Issues regarding the product ratings in the product list view have been solved.

Wrapping Up

You can easily download the Magento 2.4.4 release notes from the official website. The latest version of Magento will provide a lot of improvements for the online stores.

With the support for PHP 8.1, store owners can expect performance boosts.

Set your online store up for success by upgrading it to the latest Magento version today and leveraging its cutting-edge features.

Want to Upgrade Your Magento Store to the Latest Version? Contact Us!