📌 Changelog
AP Speed Optimizer changelog for merchants who wants a regularly-updated product.
June 2026
Speed Request — Get a Hands-On Speed-Up From Our Experts
You can now ask our expert team to optimize your store's speed for you. Submit a Speed Request and it enters a tracked queue, so you always know where your request stands. When the work is done, you receive an Expert review showing before/after speed scores for both mobile and desktop, along with screenshots — so you can see exactly what changed and how much faster your store got.
App Embed Status at a Glance
The app now shows whether its storefront app embed is active on your live theme. If the embed is off, the speed-up features that rely on it won't run — so this status makes it clear when action is needed to keep your store optimized.
Dashboard Speed Checklist
A new speed checklist on the Dashboard guides you through the key steps to a faster store. Work through each item to make sure you've turned on the optimizations that matter most for your store's performance.
Other Improvements
- Rebuilt image optimization engine (v3) for faster, more reliable results.
- New speed education banner and speed-score FAQ explain how your score is calculated and how to improve it.
- More accurate dashboard counts, savings totals, and quota tracking, so the numbers always match your actual optimization.
- Refined multi-version revert — pick exactly which optimization version to roll back to.
- Speed audit now covers more page types, with clearer URL display for audited pages.
- Reach support directly from an in-app modal to request a higher optimization or speed-up limit.
- Onboarding polish for a smoother first-time setup.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed the applied theme not refreshing immediately after confirming a speed-up.
- Fixed the app-embed status not syncing when toggling a storefront feature.
- Fixed image quota not being counted correctly in some cases.
- Fixed App settings toggles not respecting plan limits.
- Fixed a stuck "waiting" state when optimizing manually.
- Various UI fixes and error-message improvements across Speed Request and Settings.
May 2026
Expert Review With Before & After Scores
When our expert team optimizes your store, you now get a full review of the work: before and after PageSpeed scores for both mobile and desktop, the underlying PageSpeed report links, and screenshots. It's a clear, verifiable record of the speed gains delivered to your store.
Choose Which Theme to Speed Up
Speed-up now targets a theme you select instead of always applying to your main theme. This lets you test optimizations on a draft or backup theme before rolling them out to your live store.
Advanced ALT Text Variables
The ALT text template builder now supports additional variables, so you can build richer, more descriptive ALT text for your images.
Other Improvements
- More reliable optimization for very large catalogs — stores with up to around one million images now process without running out of memory.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a theme error that could occur when a store had no blog articles at optimization time.
- Fixed slow PageSpeed scans occasionally timing out before finishing.
- Fixed speed-up not always applying to the correct live theme.
- Fixed duplicate processing that could double-count optimized images.
- Fixed image recount accuracy after optimization.
- Fixed asset optimization occasionally not resuming after an interruption.
April 2026
Speed Report (Analytics) Page
A new Analytics page gives you a dedicated Speed Report for your store. It shows Core Web Vitals (FCP, LCP, CLS) from real user data, a Performance by Page breakdown, and an Optimization Activity log covering both automatic and expert optimizations. It's the clearest view yet of how your store is performing and what's been done to improve it.
Speed-First Onboarding
Onboarding has been redesigned around speed. Instead of jumping straight to image settings, the new flow walks you through Get Started → Diagnose → Optimizing → Result → Choose Plan — so you see your store's speed diagnosis and a first round of optimization before you finish setup.
New Plan Structure
Subscription plans have been redesigned into three tiers — Basic ($19/mo), Pro ($49/mo), and Expert ($99/mo) — each with a clearer set of features. The redesigned pricing page includes a side-by-side comparison table, customer testimonials, and an FAQ so you can pick the plan that fits your store.
Multiple Optimization Versions
Every optimization now backs up your true original image before making changes, and keeps multiple versions along the way. That means you can revert to any earlier version — including the untouched original — with confidence, on any plan.
Other Improvements
- Your current plan now appears in the Automated optimization section.
- New preview button on the optimization review page.
- Subscription and Analytics now have their own top-level menu items with direct deep-links.
- Updated compression banner to better reflect your file-compression status.
Bug Fixes
- ALT text revert now handles Shopify rate limits gracefully and counts only genuine successes.
- Fixed ALT text revert re-applying optimized text instead of restoring the original.
- Fixed history filtering by optimization type (file vs. store images).
- Fixed animated WebP files being picked up by compression.
- Fixed revert not finding images stored under the newer file-image storage path.
- Fixed occasional email report errors.
- Corrected tooltip and label translations in the history table across several languages.
March 2026
Dashboard Redesign
The app now opens to a full Dashboard showing your store's speed performance at a glance. The Speed Score section displays your overall score with mobile/desktop toggle and a rescan button. Core Web Vitals (FCP, LCP, TBT, CLS) are pulled directly from Google PageSpeed Insights. An Image Optimizer summary card shows total images, total compressed, and total optimized ALT — so you always know where you stand without navigating away.
Image Optimizer — Split into Compression & ALT Text
Image Optimizer has been split into two dedicated tabs. Compression focuses purely on file size reduction with a before/after preview, compression level selector, and report showing total savings. ALT text optimizer is its own tab with two modes: Custom template (drag-and-drop variables) and AI automation (coming soon). Each tab has its own report, history, and FAQs.
Faster, Smarter Optimization
The backend has been rebuilt to optimize images by file instead of by page. Previously, the same image appearing across multiple product pages would be processed multiple times. Now each unique file is handled once — making optimization faster and more accurate.
ALT Text Optimization
New dedicated ALT text optimization flow with batch processing, report dashboard (optimized/unoptimized/missing), bulk revert capability, and ALT text manager for individual image control.
Other Improvements
- Force WebP option for more aggressive file size reduction.
- Fallback preview when original image is unavailable.
- Recalculate analysis for accurate report numbers.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed optimization process getting stuck on connection errors.
- Fixed empty ALT text handling in revert and optimize flow.
February 2026
Other Improvements
- Improved memory handling for stores with large image inventories.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed large stores experiencing timeouts during optimization.
- Fixed ALT text variant name not being applied correctly.
- Fixed compression percentage conflict in settings.
January 2026
Page Loader
New Page Loader feature with customizable loading animations. Choose between a circle spinner or your store logo. The app auto-detects your store favicon, or you can upload a custom image.
Other Improvements
- GIF files are now properly excluded from compression (supported formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, WebP).
- Improved filename matching for more accurate optimization.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed image quality display not reflecting actual settings.
- Fixed settings not saving correctly during onboarding.
December 2025
Other Improvements
- Bulk revert ALT text option added — restore original ALT text across all images at once.
- ALT text optimization now correctly handles product variant names.
November 2025
Speed Up
New Speed Up feature to help improve your store's page loading performance beyond image optimization.
Pricing Plans
Subscription pricing plans introduced with tiered feature access.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed notification delivery issues.
August 2025
Split Image & ALT Optimization
Image compression and ALT text optimization can now be triggered independently, giving you more control over which type of optimization to run.
June 2025
Other Improvements
- Search and filter improvements in Image Manager.
- ALT text revert now restores your true original ALT text.
January 2025
Other Improvements
- Improved automatic optimization when new products are added to your store.
- Email reports are only sent when there's actual optimization data to show.
Bug Fixes
- Minor UI and stability fixes.
December 2024
Onboarding Flow
New guided onboarding walks you through initial setup — compression level, image selection, and your first optimization run.
Other Improvements
- In-app chat support for instant help.
- Notification system for optimization reports.
October 2024
Initial Release
App Plaza SEO Image Optimizer launched with core features: image compression, ALT text optimization, Image Manager with bulk processing, and optimization reports.