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 lets you drip feed course content without a membership plugin — and without the $179 per year one costs. Choose between two unlock modes: unlock content by date, so one fixed calendar date applies to everyone, or release content after registration, so every student gets their own personal drip schedule counted from the day they signed up. Until the content unlocks, students see a message you write. When the time arrives, the content unlocks automatically — no manual steps, no developer help required.
What you can do with it:
- Unlock content by date. Schedule content release for any post, page, or custom post type — set the unlock date and time right inside the post editor, one field, one click. Works with standard posts, pages, and any custom post type.
- Drip feed course content from each student’s own start date. Instead of a fixed date, release content after registration: set a number of days after signup — Lesson 2 unlocks 7 days after each student registers, Lesson 3 unlocks 14 days after, and so on. Every student gets their own personal schedule automatically.
- 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 content 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 or registration offset and user role, nothing else.
Screenshots
The Time Lock metabox inside the post editor — choose a lock mode, set an unlock date or registration offset, 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 Time Locker → Settings.
The All Time Locks admin list — every locked post with its unlock date (or registration offset) and current status.
