Why Is My Alert Only Showing When I'm Logged In?

If your alert box popup appears when you are logged into WordPress but is not visible to your site visitors, the most common cause is the “Test Alert Box” option being enabled.

When this checkbox is ticked, the alert is restricted to logged-in administrators only. This is designed to let you preview how the alert looks before making it live, but it means no one else will see it until you turn the setting off.

How to Fix It — Untick "Test Alert Box"

To make the alert visible to everyone:

  1. Go to your Alert Box settings in the WordPress dashboard.
  2. Find the “Test Alert Box” checkbox and make sure it is unticked.
  3. Save or Publish the changes.

If you also see a separate toggle to set the alert as active or live, make sure that is switched on too.

Still Not Showing? Check Your Alert Dates

If unticking the test box doesn’t resolve it, the next thing to check is the Start Alert and End Alert dates.

These control the window during which the alert is displayed to visitors. If the end date has already passed, the alert will not appear — even if everything else is configured correctly.

Make sure both dates are current and that today’s date falls between the start and end dates. If the dates are in the past, update them to a future range and save your changes.

Quick Checklist

If you’ve checked all of the above and the alert still isn’t showing, please contact support and we’ll investigate further.